Achanta Sharat Kamal, the Indian table tennis veteran is a part of the Indian contingent for the Rio Olympics 2016. Here are 10 things you might want to know about him.
1. Achanta Sharath Kamal was born on 12 July, 1982 in Tamil Nadu, India. His mother tongue is Telugu.
2. He did his schooling from PSBB School, Nungambakkam (class of 2000) and graduation from Loyola College, Chennai.
3. He is considered to be one of the best table tennis players that India has ever produced, and had a world ranking of 32 in May 2015. He currently ranks 69 in the world as of June, 2016.
4. He was awarded the Arjuna award in 2004, and is employed with Indian Oil Corporation as an officer.
5. He has been playing in the European League over the past few years, and has played in Sweden and Spain. He currently lives in Düsseldorf, Germany, and plays in the German Bundesliga for the club Borussia Düsseldorf.
6. In 2010, he won the US Open Table Tennis Men’s Championships in Michigan. The same year, he won the Egypt Open to become the first Indian to win a singles title on the ITTF Pro Tour. He was also the captain of the Indian men’s team that won the team title at the event, defeating nine-time champions England to clinch the title.
7. He won the gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, defeating crowd favourite William Henzell of Australia in the final.
8. He won the gold medal in men’s doubles event in table tennis, teaming with Subhajit Saha at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
9. He represented India in the 2004 edition of the Summer Olympics in Athens and in the 2006 Asian Games which was held in Qatar.
10. He was the only TT player to be selected to represent India in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
