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Star paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal believes India have a bright chance of winning a medal in the Tokyo Olympics mixed doubles event and will start training with Manika Batra in Chennai later this month.
The Indian pair became the first from the country to qualify for the Olympics when they made the cut for Tokyo by beating the World No.5 Korean pair of Jeon Ji-hee and Lee Sang-su in the Asian Qualifiers final in Doha. G Sathiyan and Sutirtha Mukherjee have also qualified for the Tokyo Games from India.
Both Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal initially decided to train in Pune, but due to the rapidly rising number of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, the duo have now opted to train in Chennai. Maharashtra is the worst-hit state in the country in this second wave of COVID-19 with over 63,000 new cases and 349 deaths reported on Sunday
Considering that all the WTT’s ‘China Hub’ events have been postponed to after the Olympics and no ITTF events is scheduled before the Tokyo Olympics, the Indians are left with no other option than to train with domestic sparring partners in mixed doubles ahead of the mega extravaganza.
“We have planned that we will give more focus on mixed doubles because that is where we have a great chance to win a medal. I had spoken to Manika Batra and we have decided that in the month of April, we will have four to five days of training together,” Sharath Kamal told Sportskeeda.
“Because of the worse COVID situation in Maharashtra, we have decided to train in Chennai in April. Probably next week or a week after, we will have a five or six days practice going on. Again in the month of May we will have another week-long training together somewhere in India subject to the COVID situation,” the veteran Sharath Kamal added.
National training camp for Tokyo-bound paddlers in June
The 38-year-old Sharath Kamal from Chennai made his Olympic debut back in 2004 in Athens. He also represented India in the 2008 and 2016 Olympics before qualifying for his fourth Games in Doha last month. In addition to the mixed doubles, Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra also qualified in the singles events for the Tokyo Olympics.
“In June, I have asked the federation to organise a training camp where we will try and have foreign sparring partners – for both mixed doubles and singles. And in July we will be in Japan. For singles, I already have two sparring partners sanctioned by TOPS – one from Delhi and another from Gujarat,” he added.
The Indian duo is likely to have Archana Kamath and Sanil Shankar Shetty as their mixed doubles sparring partners, although more options are being looked at by Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).
“For the mixed double we have decided to have only Indian sparring partners. The TTFI and myself we were just thinking that Sanil Shankar Shetty and Archana Kamath might be a good option. Sanil is a good left-hander and Archana has also helped Manika in her singles practice before,” Sharath Kamal added.
“We haven’t decided on who will be the six foreign sparring partners but will finalise soon. We might also play some friendly matches because we won’t be having any matches until the Olympics. The China hub has also got cancelled.”
Sharath Kamal likely to travel to Europe for singles preparation
However, with the deteriorating COVID situation in India, it would be a challenge for the TTFI and the players to convince the foreign players to come to the country and help the Indians. Sharath Kamal has even planned to travel to Europe next month for singles training but it is subject to visa availability and quarantine rules.
“Following my training with Manika in May, I would like to go to Europe for singles training which is again subject to COVID situation, visa and travel restrictions. If I am going to Europe, I would like to go for three weeks but again subject to quarantine rules,” informed Sharath Kamal.
“We are in a lookout for a country where we can spend as less time as possible in quarantine. Staying in 14-day quarantine at this stage is something luxurious which we can’t afford. I am looking for which country it would be easier to get a visa. If I am able to get the visa it would be easier to look for the venue. I am personally looking at Germany, Denmark and Sweden,” added Sharath Kamal.
