Achanta Sharath Kamal is a noted Indian table tennis player. He is considered to be the first Indian table tennis player who won the Senior National Champion title for nine consecutive years. Upon this, he broke the record of the eight times National Champion Indian table Tennis player Kamlesh Mehta.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Achanta Sharath Kamal was born on Monday, 12 July 1982 (age 40 years; as of 2022) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. His zodiac sign is Cancer. Soon after completing his school education, he began pursuing a B.Com. degree at Loyola College, Chennai. [1]IndiaToday He belongs to a family of renowned Indian Table Tennis players. His father, Srinivasa Rao, and his uncle, Muralidhar Rao, are notable table tennis players, who are working as coaches to the budding Table Tennis players in India. Sharath Kamal was four years old when he was introduced to Table Tennis by his father and uncle. His initial training and practising began under the guidance of his father and uncle.
When he was fifteen years old, his father gave him the option to continue his studies and become an engineer or practice Table Tennis professionally so that he could pursue Table Tennis as a career. Sharath chose Table Tennis and began practising the game under his father. However, Sharath took a lot of time to leave a good impression on the national-level TT selectors. His aggressive playing style included a lot of risks that used to affect his consistency while playing the game.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 6′ 2″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
His father’s name is Srinivasa Rao, and he was a former table tennis player and coach.
His mother’s name is Annapurna, and she is a homemaker.
He has a younger brother named Rajath Kamal.
Wife & Children
On 27 July 2009, Sharath Kamal got married to Sripoorni SK. She is a homemaker.
The couple has a son and a daughter.
Career
Sharath Kamal was selected for a 16-member training camp during the 2002 Commonwealth Games. This training helped him to understand the game so that he could improve his performance. Consequently, in 2002, he got qualified for the finals of the national championship, and he became a part of the Indian national team. In 2003, he participated in the national championships and won his first title. In 2004, he competed in the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships and clinched his first international medal. Consequently, he got qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics. He then participated in consecutive five national competitions and clinched a title in each. In 2006, he competed in the Commonwealth Games, which were organised in Melbourne and won a gold medal in the singles TT match. During the same championships, he clinched another gold medal in the men’s team match.
In 2007, Sharath Kamal competed in the Pyongyang Invitational Tournament, which was held in Pyongyang, North Korea and became the first Table tennis player to participate in the same. In the same year, he participated in the Japan Pro Tour and defeated his opponent Lee Jung-woo of South Korea. Lee Jung-woo was holding the 19 world ranking when he was defeated by Sharath. In 2008, he participated in the Beijing Olympics and became the only Indian Men’s Table Tennis player to compete in these Olympics. In 2010, Sharath Kamal won the US Open Table Tennis Men’s Championships organised in Grand Rapids, Michigan after defeating his opponent, Thomas Keinath of Slovakia, in a match that consisted of seven games. In the same year, he participated in the Egypt Open and won the championships after defeating his opponent Li Ching of Hong Kong. Upon winning this championship, he became the first Indian to win a singles title on the ITTF Pro Tour. During ITTF Pro Tour, as a captain of the team, he helped his team to win the championship by defeating England, who were the tour favourites and nine-time champions.
In 2010, he competed in the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and won a gold medal in Men’s Doubles along with his teammate, Subhajit Saha.
In the following year, he played for the team TSV Grafelfing during the table tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) tournaments. In the same tournaments, he teamed up with the SV Werder Bremen team in 2012. In 2013, he joined Borussia Düsseldorf in Germany, one of the best clubs for table tennis in Europe. In 2016, during the Asian Olympics, he defeated Iran’s player Noshad Alamian in the qualifier round and got qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics. However, in Rio Olympics, he was defeated in the first match. In 2018, he participated in the Commonwealth Games, which were organised in Gold Coast and clinched a gold medal in the men’s team event along with his teammates Anthony Amalraj, Harmeet Desai, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, and Sanil Shetty. During the same championships, he clinched a silver medal in men’s doubles along with his teammate Sathiyan and bagged a bronze medal in a men’s single event.
In 2020, he defeated his opponent Marcos Freitas of Portugal and won the ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open. Upon this win, he won a title at the ITTF event after a long wait of a decade. On 27 July 2021, Sharath Kamal was defeated by Ma Long of China in the third round of the men’s singles at the Tokyo Olympics.
🎥: These Sharath Kamal winners against Ma Long will surely blow your mind 🤯🔥 #IND
He went down fighting, as #TeamIndia's #Tokyo2020 #TableTennis campaign comes to an end. #StrongerTogether | #UnitedByEmotion @sharathkamal1 pic.twitter.com/kBvyaAoCTM
— Olympic Khel (@OlympicKhel) July 27, 2021
In 2021, he won a gold medal at the 83rd Senior National Table Tennis championships in India.
On 2 August 2022, Sharath Kamal and his Indian men’s table tennis team clinched a gold medal after they defeated Singapore by 3-1 in the final at the Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England.
He won gold in men’s singles at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Medals
Commonwealth Games
2006
- Gold medal in TT Men’s Singles in Melbourne
- Gold medal in TT Men’s Team in Melbourne
2010
- Gold medal in TT Men’s Doubles in Delhi
- Bronze medal in TT Men’s Team in Delhi
2018
- Gold medal in TT Men’s Team in Gold Coast
- Silver medal in TT Men’s Doubles in Gold Coast
- Bronze medal in TT Men’s Singles in Gold Coast
- Bronze medal in TT Mixed doubles in Gold Coast
2022
- Gold medal in TT Men’s Team in Birmingham
- Gold in men’s singles in Birmingham
Asian Games
- Two bronze medals at the 2018 Asian Games
Awards, Honours, Achievements
In 2004, he was honoured with the Arjuna award.
In 2019, he was felicitated with the Padma Shri award.
Bike Collection
Sharath Kamal owns a Customized Royal Enfield bullet.
Facts/Trivia
- He follows a non-vegetarian diet. [2]An Instagram Post by Sharath
- Apart from being a prominent Table Tennis player, Sharath Kamal is a fluent motivational speaker. He is often invited by several well-known public speaking platforms to deliver motivational speeches.
- Sharath Kamal likes spending his leisure time with his family members when he is not competing in events and practising Table Tennis. Travelling to distant locations is his favourite recreational activity.
- Achanta Sharath Kamal attended the wedding reception of Akash Ambani and Shloka Mehta in March 2019.
- According to Achanta Sharath Kamal, he is inspired by the former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and his playing style. He often met Sachin on various occasions and events.
- He remains very active on various social media platforms. He is followed by over 29k people on Instagram. On Facebook, he has more than 15k followers. He frequently posts pictures and videos on social media.
References
↑1 | IndiaToday |
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↑2 | An Instagram Post by Sharath |