For the second time in as a few years Achanta Sharath Kamal has entered a interval of uncertainty. There are not any plans to journey overseas for coaching camps as quite a few desk tennis locations have shut their borders to Indians because the Covid-19 wave sweeps by the nation. In the construct as much as his fourth Olympics, journey inside India too has been an issue.
His blended doubles accomplice Manika Batra needed to journey to Chennai final week to coach with him. The unique plan was for him to apply at her coaching venue in Pune. The lockdown in Maharashtra resulted in change of plans
And then, he says “I don’t know if (the Olympics) will happen.”
Training and preparation has continued, but amidst the uncertainty, he says that is essentially the most assured he has been forward of an Olympic Games.
“My ranking does the talking for that,” says the World No.32 throughout a SAI-organised press convention. “This is the best ranking I’ve had going into an Olympics. In 2004 I was just entering the international field. In 2008 I first broke into the top 100. In 2016, I was just coming back from an injury and even the qualifying stage took a toll on my body.”
Preparations underway for our blended doubles occasion! Fully targeted on bettering our footwork and higher our coordination! 🏓 #TableTennis #WorkforceIndia #Tokyo2020 @manikabatra_TT @KirenRijiju @Media_SAI @WeAreTeamIndia pic.twitter.com/pQEc0yGEJe
— Sharath Kamal OLY (@sharathkamal1) April 22, 2021
He’s been increase the boldness for the previous few years. Bronze medals on the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta definitely had lots to do with it.
Sharath Kamal spearheaded the boys’s group to a bronze medal end, the nation’s first Asian Games medal within the sport, beating a star-studded Japanese group alongside the way in which. A day later the 38-year-old paired up with Batra to choose up an sudden bronze medal within the blended doubles occasion, beating the South Korean World No.5 duo of Sangsu Lee and Jihee Jeon enroute.
It’s within the blended doubles occasion the place India’s greatest probability of a medal lies on the Olympics.
“The main reason (for the confidence) is the medal we won at the Asian Games, where Manika and I were paired up for the first time,” says Sharath, a TOPS-supported athlete.
“We started to believe that if we can do it at the Asian Games, it can happen at the Olympics too. That is because Asia is the powerhouse of table tennis. The best teams are from here – China, Japan, South Korea. And then there are the subsidiaries of China – Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Singapore. When you can medal at the Asian Games, you have that confidence.”
The Indian pair have been in Doha over a month again, competing at a blended doubles event the place solely the winner would earn one of many 16 spots out there for the occasion in Tokyo. They overcame the Singaporean duo of Lin Ye and Pang Yew En Koen 4-2 within the semi-final earlier than drawing up towards the highest seeded Korean group they’d crushed in Jakarta.
They began gradual, shedding the primary two units earlier than taking the subsequent 4 to pull-off one other well-known win.
“That gives us a lot of confidence and faith that this is going to be the best Olympic Games in terms of performance and results,” he says.
The pair has continued to try to carry that momentum ahead ever since. The current coaching periods in Chennai have been the primary a part of many scheduled.
“We’re hoping to have at least five-six days of good practice every month where we completely focus on mixed doubles,” he explains. “We’ve worked on a lot of aspects and training is divided into a few parts. The first is to work on footwork and coordination, the second is a bit more tactical.”
The contrasting types make them a powerful pair.
“She can slow down the game when needed, and I can speed it up. That way we can complement each other really well, and the opponent is not comfortable playing us. They want to finish the rally quickly, but we try to prolong the rally and make the opponent move much more than what they like,” Sharath provides.
He places vicious energy and spin on the ball. Batra, with the lengthy pimpled rubber on her backhand aspect – which she switches mid-rally – performs a misleading sport that may frustrate the hardest opponents. But the World No.62, the very best ranked girls’s participant from India, additionally has a robust forehand that makes a distinction.
“When Sharath hits his forehand, he opens up the opponent,” 2008 Olympian Neha Aggarwal had advised The Indian Express. “But you need to have a partner who can hit the next shot with just as much power to finish off the rally. He’s never had that kind of partner for a while. But Manika’s new forehand complements his. She can match his intensity.”
They’ve been doing all they’ll amidst the chaos and uncertainty. With simply 16 groups competing within the blended doubles occasion, they should win solely three matches to safe a medal. The journey started for them three years in the past, when the quietly assured pairing returned with India’s first blended doubles medal on the Asian Games. Now that the blended occasion is making its debut on the Olympics, they hope to repeat their success.
