After a storied career, Sharath keen to mentor young talent

Sharath Kamal excited for next career phase, aims to nurture young talent and develop table tennis in India.

Having called it a day, Sharath Kamal, India’s top paddler, said he is really excited for the next phase of his career. Admitting that was an emotional moment, the 42-year-old, 10-time National champion said he’s looking forward to nurture young talent now.

“Actually, I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Many times, I have joked that I have passed the retirement age to announce my retirement! But, I think it was very, very emotional. I am very excited about the next half of my career. I have contributed a lot as a player and I feel now I can contribute equally as an administrator or/and as a High Performance Director,” Sharath told The Hindu here on Wednesday on the sidelines of the press conference of the WTT Star Contender tournament.

The multiple Commonwealth Games medallist picked his match against Olympic champion Ma Long at the Tokyo Olympics and the Indian men’s team defeating Japan in the 2018 Asian Games to bag a historic bronze as special.

“Personally for me, I had two really good outings. One was at the Olympic Games when I played Ma Long, the Olympic champion back then. That was one of the finest matches that I have ever played. And for me the biggest thing that changed the face of Indian table tennis, I would say is the Asian Games medal in 2018. When for the first time in 60 years, Indian table tennis got a medal at the Asian Games, especially after beating former world champions Japan in the quarterfinals,” he said.

Sharath said not winning an Olympic medal will be a regret, but insisted that through his wards he will live his dream. “Nurturing the younger talents and hopefully looking at winning Olympic medals in the years to come will be one of my main objectives,” he said.

Having retired as a professional player, said Sharath, will give him more time to develop the sport. “With the help of the State Government and the Central government, I would like to put in place a structure and system into the sport and try and put table tennis in the world map and help the country win an Olympic medal,” he said.

Sharath’s proposed table tennis academy to come up at the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University in Melakottaiyur, will be ready by June. “There’s been a lot of movement regarding the Academy. By the end of July, we’ll have it up and running,” he said.