CWG Update: iSporter Kunal Shah interviews Table Tennis Men's Doubles Gold Medal Winner Achanta Sharath Kamal.
Second of iSport’s Commonwealth Games interviews, this time I spoke to Achanta Sharath Kamal. India’s no. 1 table-tennis player for over 4 years now, the CWG Gold medal in the Mens Doubles event could well be his most notable achievement till date.
Sharath teamed up with Subhajit Saha to win Gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Here are the excerpts of the interview:
Kunal @ iSport: How does it feel to win Gold at the CWG? Especially with the Indian crowd cheering every move of yours?
Sharath: It’s a wonderful feeling as we wanted to win atleast one Gold in the Commonwealth Games. We knew Singapore was a very strong contender to win all the seven golds, hence I am very happy that Saha and I could stop them in the Mens Doubles category. Local crowd support was just awesome and encouraging.
Kunal @ iSport: The doubles final match - what was the plan?
Sharath: The plan was to be aggressive all the way and I think that paid off. Towards the third game the Singaporean pair was beginning to get very nervous as they didn’t know how to stop us from attacking.
Kunal @ iSport: Describe the chemistry between you and Subhajit Saha. How do you compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses?
Sharath: I must congratulate Saha for the way he has come back from his shoulder injury and I think he was on a roll during the semi-finals and finals. He didn’t miss any of his forehand topspins and that gave me a lot of confidence to raise my game. And I also wish to thank him for helping me get out of my singles semifinals loss against Yang Zi from Singapore as we had to focus on the doubles finals in less than 3 hrs.
Kunal @ iSport: Your Bronze medal was India's 100th medal at the CWG - do you know this statistic? How does it feel to have won India's 100th medal.
Sharath: Yes I did know the statistic that I could win India her 100th medal. I saw the news that morning and it said that TT could win India the 100th medal. I am very proud that I could to the century of medals that India won in the Commonwealth Games.
Kunal @ iSport: What's up next for you? Where do you play next?
Sharath: I am going back to Germany to train for the Asian Games. I have a good chance and am aiming to qualify for the Pro Tour Grand Final which is played amongst the top 16 table-tennis players in the world.
Kunal @ iSport: With the spaced out schedules, did you get to watch any other Indian athlete compete? Who did you enjoy watching the most?
Sharath: Actually I was playing on all days, so I could not step out of stadium. I didn’t watch any other sports directly but I would watch TV to follow up Rushmi Chakravarthy’s progress on the tennis courts - we both work in the same office (Indian Oil Corporation). And of course, I was dying to watch Saina Nehwal play the last Gold medal match for India.
Kunal @ iSport: CWG - forget the media speculation; give us your genuine feedback on the efforts that were put in.
Sharath: Delhi 2010 will be very memorable for me as it bettered the expectations of many people and shut critic’s mouth once and for all with the good organisation skills especially during the opening and the closing ceremonies. The village was good and I think it had better amenities than any other Games village. In all the CWG was good and I will always cherish the memories.
Kunal @ iSport: Do you think Indian fans have more role models to follow with the success of the CWG? Pick your star Indian athlete of the CWG.
Sharath: Yes, I think Indian people have started to acknowledge other sports and sports persons. Even the media is playing a supportive role in spreading our success. I hope with the success of CWG more people take up sport professionally and help take India to the next level in international sporting events. My favourite Indian athlete was of course Saina Nehwal who stood up to her expectations and did the country proud by winning us gold and securing second spot in the overall medals tally.
Kunal @ iSport: Your feedback on iSport and message to the iSporters
Sharath: Sports and our achievements have been widely publicized thanks to media like yours and I hope sport is taken up seriously by more and more people to put India on the world map of sport.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/hide comments
Jigar Mehta
said:
 |
... i am a super table tennis fan, he is a super table tennis player & this is a super Table Tennis player interview! |
Show/hide comment form
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
