Chennai, March 29 (IANS) Indian Table Tennis legend Achanta Sharath Kamal hung his boots following his face-off against Snehit Suravajjula in the Men’s Singles Round of 16 at WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025. The 3-0 defeat against his compatriot meant this was Sharath’s final official match. The five-time Olympian and India’s most celebrated paddler, Sharath, had announced his retirement from table tennis ahead of the start of the tournament.

At 42 years old, Sharath, who is a record 10-time national champion, is currently India’s top-ranked men’s singles player, placed 92nd in the latest WTT ranking list. Sharath has won 13 Commonwealth Games medals (including seven gold) and two Asian Games bronze medals, five Olympic Games appearances, and two ITTF Pro Tour titles under his two-decade-long career.

He won his first national title in 2003 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. In 2004, Sharath was conferred the Arjuna Award 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.

In 2010, he became the first Indian table tennis player to win an ITTF Pro Tour title when he won the Egypt Open. Sharath 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.

But he won medals in every event he competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games (gold, silver and two bronze medals). He also went on to win two bronze medals at the 2018 Asian Games.

In 2019, the veteran rose to a career-best ranking of world No. 30 and in the same year, won a record ninth national title. The following year, at the age of 37, Sharath won his second international title at the Oman Open, a decade after his first.

At the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, it was his fourth Olympic appearance, but the Indian veteran, who got a bye in the first round, lost 4-1 to Chinese legend and eventual gold-medallist Ma Long in the round of 32.

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

In April 2022, he bagged his 10th national title with an impressive 4-3 win over Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in the final. In the Commonwealth Games 2022, he bagged the gold medal in men’s singles.

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. Sharath was also awarded India’s highest sporting honour – the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in the same year.

The veteran was also part of the Indian table tennis squad for the Asian Games 2022 in Hangzhou and played an integral role in helping India obtain a team quota for Paris 2024, a first-ever for the country at the Olympics.

Sharath was India’s flag bearer for the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony alongside ace shuttler PV Sindhu, making him the first table tennis player from India to receive the honour. Unfortunately, his run in men’s singles ended prematurely after an opening-round loss.

–IANS

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