From lunching alongside tennis icon Roger Federer to taking a set off Chinese legend Ma Long, India’s flag-bearer for Paris Olympics, Achanta Sharath Kamal, on Wednesday recalled probably the most memorable moments from his 5 appearances on the Games up to now. The 42-year-old desk tennis legend helped the Indian males’s crew qualify for the primary time in historical past and is believed to be set for his ultimate look on the Games. The multiple-time Commonwealth Games gold-medallist believes that qualifying as a crew might grow to be the catalyst of progress for desk tennis in India.
For somebody who has an enormous financial institution of reminiscences from the Olympics having made his first look in 2004, Sharath recalled working into Federer at a eating corridor in his debut Games.
“One day I was just out for lunch and as I was entering from this side, there was another person coming from the other side with a tennis bag and hair let loose. I feel like I have seen him somewhere. I couldn’t recognise who he was with his hair let loose,” he stated in a launch from Ultimate Table Tennis.
“We pass each other — we actually cross paths — (and) he goes to give his bag at the baggage keeping area. I walk in, take my plate looking at what to eat and it suddenly strikes me. Man, it’s Roger Federer!” Sharath stated he was reasonably shy at the moment however nonetheless looked for the Swiss ace.
“He was sitting at one of the tables all by himself. I went as close as possible. I didn’t want to get in his place but still got close and I was eating (on the same table),” he continued.
“Suddenly, a guy comes in with a reverse hat and shorts and they are clapping hands. I look at him and it’s Andy Roddick,” Sharath recalled.
With the Tokyo Olympics postponed by one yr throughout to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sharath recalled dealing with difficulties in coaching and but he was in a position to make a dent in Long’s march to the gold medal.
“Out of the five times I have played with him, I have won just one set against him and that was in Tokyo. And I am very proud of what happened there, especially coming in after COVID,” he added.
“India had a very tough situation especially after the second wave. People in the rest of the world started their training back and, mid-way in the lockdown in India, we were still confined to home workouts, I was playing on my terrace. It was very tough.
“I used to be coaching on a regular basis in India with the restricted sources we had. From that tough mindset to attending to the Olympics and doing my greatest, I actually really feel I did properly,” Sharath continued.
Even although he suffered a knee harm through the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Sharath fought bravely to succeed in the second spherical. He defeated Spain’s Alfredo Carneros within the first and pushed his Austrian buddy Chen Weixing to 5 units within the subsequent.
Also, in 2008, he was nonetheless in awe of worldwide athletes and Sharath recalled observing basketball legend Kobe Bryant and his ‘mamba’ mentality intently through the opening ceremony.
Sharath additionally remembers his Athens 2004 assembly with double lure taking pictures silver medallist and former sports activities minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore earlier than the ultimate.
“Probably, I disturbed him in his alone time, but he was sitting outside and relaxing. Coach Kamlesh Mehta said, ‘Come, let’s go and wish him’ and then we both went and he spoke very nicely, asked about my match etc,” Sharath recalled.
“He went on to win the medal and after he won the medal, it was so easy for me to go and look at the medal because I had already spoken to him the night before,” he stated.
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