Hyderabad: Thirty-eight-year-old Achanta Sharath Kamal is living out her dream. Years of hard work and perseverance can help his dream become a reality in the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. The champion rower qualified for the postponed July 21 games in the singles and mixed doubles.
After Sharath, as a 21-year-old child, first competed in the 2004 Olympics, he has come a long way and is on the verge of Olympic glory. ‘It was a young boy’s dream to win an Olympic medal when I first competed in 2004. After 17 long years, the dream is going to become a reality because I feel I can win a medal through mixed doubles. This is going to be my best Olympics because of the good rankings. I have never had such a high ranking of 32 in the world.
“Over the years, there have been a lot of goals that I have achieved, and I have constantly raised the bar. I started with the Commonwealth Games, where I was the first rower to win the singles medal and become a strong country in CWG since 2006. But the highlight was in 2018 when we won medals at the Asian Games, for the first time in 60 years. These medals, especially the Asian Games show, give you the belief system that if you can do it in Asian Games, you can do it at the Olympics. ‘
Sharath said table tennis has come of age in the country. ‘Now I’m recognized as Sharath Kamal in public places, and that’s recognition for the game. My goal is to take TT to a new high point like badminton and where Saina Nehwal or PV Sindhu did for their game. We will do it in this Olympics. It can be a huge one. When Saina won the bronze at the London Olympics, the badminton changed forever. We want to be role models for table tennis like Saina or Sindhu. ”
The Telugu-speaking rower, who hails from Chennai, said Covid-19 taught him to be patient. ‘In March last year I won a tournament in Oman, and then the pandemic lockout started. This upset our plans. We were treated on an uncertainty path. It was painful and with my age not my side, I had to spit it out for the next few months. I was on a slightly slippery road and self-doubt began to creep in. But I worked on mental toughness. After October we got hope and thanks to the TTFI we got a camp in Sonepat. In that camp, I got my rhythm back, ” Sharath said.
He is excited about the young talent of the country. ‘It’s going extremely well with Sathiyan. Manika Batra also reached a new high. It was a great thing to play with Manika in a mixed doubles event from 2018. By the way, our playing styles are completely different and this gives us the added advantage. She slows down the game very well while I have a power play. My best top-turn is my winning weapon, where even world no. 1 may not be able to fetch it. This is our strong point and it helped to defeat World No.5, not once (in Asian Games) but twice (in Doha). It gives us the confidence and we believe we can probably win the Olympic medal. ‘
With Covid-19 cases rise, there are new problems and new concerns. Even planning for a workout becomes a headache, whether you need to exercise in India or abroad. The fear of being locked up haunts us again. “That’s why we had to plan carefully for joint training.”
Because of a table tennis fraternity, Sharath owes his rise to his father Srinivas and uncle. “They have a huge impact on my career. Now Mrs. Sripooni is of great support. I miss my son Suyasha and son Tejas. I have tears when I leave for camp or tournament. ‘
Source: Telangana Today