Achanta Sharath Kamal is an Indian Table Tennis player born on 12th July 1982. He hails from Chennai in Tamil Nadu. He represents India in Singles, Doubles, and Mixed Doubles. As of April 2020, Sarath is ranked 32 in the world.
Achanta Sharath Kamal comes from a humble family residing in Chennai. He was introduced to Table Tennis by his father at the age of 4. Sarath’s father along with his uncle Muralidhar Rao taught him the technicalities of the game and groomed him to be a professional paddler.
Sharath couldn’t handle his mental attitude as he would always want to win rather than accepting the defeat. The defeat was something that he would often get frustrated at. His father and uncle helped him in mental conditioning. Sharath’s uncle had made a strict rule for him so that he could deal with his frustration. He had spent his time practicing Table Tennis with his uncle before and after school every day.
At the age of 16, Sharath Kamal began his professional career and took part in state-level competitions. Sarath Kamal has always been in top form ever since his foray into professional table tennis.
Sharath is married to Sripoorni and has two children. He currently resides in Dusseldorf, Germany. He is an executive officer with Indian Oil Corporation.
After his success at state meets, Sharath advanced to the national level. In 2003, Sarath became the National Champion for the first time at the National Table Tennis Championships. Between 2004 and 2019, he won 8 National titles and eclipsed Kamlesh Mehta's record of 8 titles at the 2019 National Table Tennis Championships.
In 2007, Sharath won the Pyongyang Invitational Tournament and became the first Indian paddler to win the tournament. At the 2010 US Open Table Tennis Championships, he defeated the defending champion, Thomas Keinath, in the final to claim the championship title.
Since 2010, Sharath has been part of the German major table tennis league Bundesliga (not to be confused with German Football’s Bundesliga) and currently playing for Borussia Dusseldorf.
Achanta Sharath Kamal made his international debut at the 2004 Athens Olympics. In the same year, he clinched his first international Gold medal in Men’s Singles at the 16th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships held at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
In 2006, Sharath won the Gold medal in Men’s Singles by defeating Australia’s William Henzell, followed by another Gold medal in Men’s Team event at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in Australia. Later in the year, he competed in the Asian Games in Doha but didn’t win any medals. By the way, Sharath Kamal was the only Indian paddler selected to represent the country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
At the 2010 Commonwealth Games, he partnered with Subhajit Saha to clinch the Gold medal in Men’s Doubles, followed up with the Bronze medal in Men’s Team event held in New Delhi, India. In the same year, he won the Egypt Open by defeating Hong Kong’s Li Ching in straight sets and became the first Indian paddler to win a title on the ITTF Pro Tour.
In 2015, Sharath qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics after defeating Iran’s Noshad Alamian in the Asian Olympic qualification final, but he was knocked out of the Olympics after losing to Romania’s Adrian Crisan in the 1st Round of Men’s Singles.
In 2018, he bagged 4 medals – a Gold medal in Men’s Team event, a Silver in Men’s Doubles, and 2 Bronze medals in Men’s Singles and Mixed Doubles at the Commonwealth Games in Goldcoast, Australia. Later that year, he won 2 Bronze medals in Men’s Team and Mixed Doubles events at the Jakarta Asian Games.
In March 2021, Sharath Kamal qualified for his 4th Olympics at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after defeating Pakistan’s Rameez Muhammad in the 2nd round of the South Asia Group’s Men Singles event at the Asian Olympics Qualification Tournament.
