In future, Indians can beat best players in the world, says Sharath Kamal

The paddler produced a grtty display despite exiting from the Summer Games.

Sharath Kamal is a well-known figure in the table tennis circuit. The veteran has spearheaded India’s growth in table tennis for the past decade and more. He was one of the four players who were representing the country at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the sport. Unfortunately, the 39-year-old crashed out of the table tennis singles and mixed doubles brackets.

However, he still earned a lot of praise, especially for his performance against Chinese supremo Ma Long. The Chinese paddler is a legend of the game who has dominated the sport for the past decade. He is the current Olympic and World champion, after winning gold at the 2016 Rio Games and the 2019 World Championships. 

Once again he is the favourite to win the whole tournament at the Tokyo Olympics. The Indian athlete faced Ma Long after defeating Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia in Round 2. However, the Chinese paddler was too strong for Sharath, but he still snatched a game and gave him a strong fight. 

The best performance of his career

Talking about his performance and hailing it as his best-ever, Sharath Kamal said, “It was one of the best performances I have ever done in my career. The way I had played, the way I had held myself, the way I had fought against Ma Long here at the Tokyo Olympic Games. I had beaten Tiago and I was up against the defending champion from China.

“If you had looked at the video and how I was fighting for every point, to make sure Ma Long was stressed and got him under pressure, got him to a situation where I wanted to. I am really happy to have done that,” he further added.

Initial thoughts post-match

“He (the coach) just hugged me and said very well played. I was feeling very low, I felt very bad that I had let an opportunity pass by. I told myself that every point Ma Long needs to earn and that’s what I did,” Sharath said in this regard.

Messages of support 

Sharath Kamal revealed how he also received so many messages of support after the match's conclusion. He said in this context that, “When I looked at my phone, the kind of messages from my family, from my fans, from my well-wishers, that just made my day completely.

"The people who had watched the match felt like, wow, this is the best performance India has ever had in a big tournament like the Olympic Games. Some messages made me feel emotional and some made me feel very excited,” he explained.

Inspiration for youth

The Arjuna Awardee further talked about how this serves as a belief for the upcoming players who aspire to do well in table tennis. “If Sharath Kamal is able to pull Ma Long until so long, in the future, we as Indians can beat the Chinese players or the best players in the world. That’s something which made me feel happy about what I had done,” he asserted further. 

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The best table tennis performance yet

Sharath Kamal also opined that this contingent in table tennis in particular, has been really impressive. He said, “I think this is the best team we have ever played at the Olympic Games. At the same time, this is the best performance we have got.

"Manika Batra playing the third round, Sutirtha playing the second round, Sathiyan in the second round, me in the third round. I am pretty sure in the years to come, it is only going to get better.” 

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