After a forgettable year that saw him miss out on an Olympics berth, India’s highest-ranked table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal said he was looking forward to training with the German national team.
After a forgettable year that saw him miss out on an Olympics berth, India’s highest-ranked table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal said he was looking forward to training with the German national team.
Till a month ago, Sharath was in Germany plying his trade in the German table tennis league, which he said was an enriching experience.
“You get to play with the best players in the world every weekend. They are tough matches. It helps you to improve your international performance,” said the 30-year-old on the sidelines of the national-ranking (south zone) table tennis championship here on Saturday.
Sharath will now shift base to Dusseldorf, where he will be seen in the role of a sparring partner for the German players.
“After the tournaments in India, I will be training with the German national team. I can practice with them for free as I will be their sparring partner. It’s a win-win situation as I will be up against some of the best players in the world,” said the six-time National champion who last played for the club SV Werder Bremen, near Hamburg.
On missing out on the Olympics, Sharath said: “The beginning of this year was not good for me. I lost in the national championship. I was down on my performance and confidence. It does happen sometimes. Also the schedule was tight, I could not take time off to get my confidence back. I had to keep playing and could not get back my game.”
About his goals for the year, Sharath said he would aim to get back to the top 50 in the world. “I will be going back to Germany.
The training will be for almost six to seven months. Besides, I’ll be playing some weekend international tournaments where I will be representing India. But I won’t be playing for any club this season,” said the Indian who is ranked 73 in the world. “I am also planning to train for the Rio Games 2016. It will be a four-year-plan.”
Sharath was pleased with the rise of youngsters in the Indian scene and said that to improve the standards of the game in the country, more corporate funding was required. “The government is doing whatever it can. We need more private funding. Table tennis is not a big sport. So, first we need to have some superstars in the game and then the money will come in. It’s only after you perform that people take notice.”
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