India's table tennis legend Achanta Sharath Kamal has been chosen for this year's Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, the country's highest sporting honour. It's an achievement every sportsperson dreams of, and it's no different for the paddler from Tamil Nadu who will be the only sportsperson this year to be get the award.
"Being adjudged by the government as the only best sportsperson of the year is icing on the cake," says the ace player who will be conferred the coveted award on November 30. Sharath Kamal, who is from Chennai, is the first table tennis player to get the Khel Ratna in the last 30 years since it was instituted.
He attributes the achievement to the glorious two weeks when he clinched three golds and bagged a silver at the Commonwealth Games 2022, held in Birmingham from July 28-August 8, 2022.
It was Sharath and his teammates who managed to end the medal drought for Indian table tennis at international tournaments.
Table tennis was first added to the Asian Games roster in 1958, but only after 60 years in the 2018 Asian Games, held in Jakarta, India could reach the medal podium — thanks to Sharath Kamal, his compatriots Sathiyan Gnanasekharan and Manika Batra — who helped India make a mark in the continental event, bagging two bronze medals.
Table tennis has toiled for years to get the kind of attention some other sports do. But not anymore, the paddler asserts. "Not only Sharath Kamal, table tennis has also come a very long way," the Chennai-born tells ABP Live.
"From a recreational sport to a top priority sport, from players not being qualified for international events to winning medals on big stages, the table tennis scenario in our country has grown leaps and bounds. And I'm really happy to be a part of it." he adds.
Sharath won the Arjuna Award in 2004 and took home the fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, in 2019. Asked where the Khel Ratna stand in his award cabinet, the overjoyed paddler says: "On top."
After being introduced to the sport at the tender age of 4, Sharath took to professional Table Tennis when he was 14. In 2002, a 20-year-old Sharath played his first National Championship finals, an event that led him to embark on a glorious career. He started his winning journey with a National Championship title in 2003, and since then there has been no looking back.
It requires a different level of skill and endurance to be on top of the game for over 20 years. Asked about his secret that keeps him at this, the 40-year-old says: "I am kind of reverse ageing. What I thought I could do in my mid-20s and 30s, I am able to fulfil now. I maximum try to keep my physical fitness and mental wellness in right space."
He adds: "Competing against youngsters and being physically fit is the biggest challenge. I feel I have constantly set good targets. It's been a habit for me to set targets for the upcoming tournament, and nothing beyond that."
Table tennis has been an Olympic sport since 1988. The four-time Olympian is now gunning for the best in the 2024 Paris Olympics and wants to be the first paddler from India to end his Olympic sojourn on the podium. "The way I am able to peak at this time, I will aim for the biggest achievement of my life," he concluded.