Sharath Kamal ACHANTA

The national call-up finally came on the eve of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, where he was selected for a 16-member probables training camp. It was the break Sharath Kamal needed to launch his career at the age of 20.

The experience at the camp gave him confidence and the exposure to top-level players made him better. Sharath Kamal made it to the final of the national championships in 2002 and though he lost, he was soon drafted into the national team.

Sharath Kamal won his first national title in 2003, the first of a record-breaking 10 national crowns, and his maiden international medal at the 2004 Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships. His career graph reached a new high when he qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Sharath Kamal did not look back after that point. He was conferred the Arjuna Award in 2004 and won five national titles in-a-row. A historic singles gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and another gold in the men’s team event capped a successful year.

He also played in Sweden for international exposure and practice, eventually making his way to Germany, where he played in the Bundesliga. This top-tier table tennis league in Germany opened up several other European avenues.

In 2010, Sharath Kamal became the first Indian table tennis player to win an ITTF Pro Tour title, when he won the Egypt Open, beating Hong Kong’s Li Ching in the final.

Sharath Kamal went on to win two more Commonwealth Games gold medals in 2010 - in the men’s team and men’s doubles. He endured a lean period for a couple of years, winning no titles or medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games or Asian Games, and was also unable to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.

However, he arrested that slump by qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics and Sharath Kamal’s finest moment arrived soon after.

A medal in every event he competed in, Sharath Kamal won a gold, silver and two bronze medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He also went on to win two bronze medals at the 2018 Asian Games.

In 2019, the veteran Sharath Kamal rose to a career-best ranking of world No. 30 and in the same year, won a record ninth national title, beating Kamlesh Mehta’s two-decade-long record of eight victories.

In 2020, at the age of 37, Sharath Kamal finally won his second international title at the Oman Open, a decade after his first.

At Tokyo 2020, in what was his fourth Olympic appearance, Sharath Kamal beat Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia 4-2 in the second round after getting a bye in the first.

The Indian veteran then lost 4-1 to Chinese legend and eventual gold-medallist Ma Long but had put in a fighting performance, making Long work hard for his win.

Despite his age, Sharath Kamal has shown no signs of slowing down, winning bronze in the men’s team and men’s doubles events at the 2021 Asian Table Tennis Championships.

In April 2022, Sharath Kamal bagged his 10th national title with an impressive 4-3 win over Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in the final. However, his biggest achievement of the year was yet to arrive.

Sharath Kamal beat England’s Liam Pitchford in the men’s singles final of the Commonwealth Games 2022 to win the gold medal. He clinched the mixed-team gold medal at CWG 2022 with Sreeja Akula, a men’s doubles silver with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and the men’s team gold medal as well.

Notably, Sharath Kamal was also awarded India’s highest sporting honour - the Khel Ratna - in 2022.

The veteran was also part of the Indian table tennis squad for the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou and played an integral role in helping India obtain a team quota for Paris 2024, a first-ever for India at the Olympics.

Sharath Kamal was India's flag bearer for the Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony alongside PV Sindhu, making him the first table tennis player of India to hold the honour. Unfortunately, his run in men's singles ended prematurely after a opening round loss.