Sharath Kamal, takes selfie for his fans with their mobile, after his match at the WTT Star Contender, at Nehru Indoor Stadium, in Chennai.
| Photo Credit: R. Ravindran
Sharath Kamal’s two-decade long journey has come to an end at the Nehru Stadium when he lost in the pre-quarterfinals of the WTT Star Contender Chennai at the Nehru Indoor Stadium on Saturday (March 29, 2025).
A journey that began in 1999 in the Asian juniors — he lost in the qualifying — in Chennai has ended in the same city. In his farewell tournament, the 42-year-old lost to 24-year-old SFR Snehit bringing an end to what has been an illustrious career.
The last-16 match, as such, didn’t reach any great heights as both played cautiously, close to the table playing an attacking brand of TT scarcely.
Trailing by two games, Sharath fought back briefly in three games but couldn’t assert his authority. His trademark whiplash backhand and forehand drives from the back of the table were absent on the day.
Whenever there was an attacking duel between the two, it was his younger rival who, mostly, had the last laugh.
Sharath waved his hands to his fans, who had come in quite a large number to see their star play his last match.
Billed as the favourite, Sharath said he knew that it would be a tough contest. “Everybody thought I was the favourite, but I knew the fact that it’s going to be very tough. I was not in the best physical shape having played two matches. But personally, for me, I would have loved to play a foreigner here. Also, for the fact that, you know, then I can go full guns blazing. Against Snehit there’s a lot happening mentally and I am bit of mentor to him,” he said.
The 10-time senior National table tennis champion praised Snehit and believed that he’s a great talent and insisted that a solid group of younger group of talented paddlers knocking on the doors. “I think Snehit will probably break into the world’s top 100 soon (now he’s ranked 123). His international performances in the last few months have been really good. He’s been doing extremely well. It’s good to have so many of these younger talents push each other. There’s Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai in seniors and there is Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah, Payas Jain and Ankur Bhattacharjee. There’s a good bench strength. And I’m pretty sure I’m leaving it in very safe hands,” he said.
Sharath said he couldn’t have asked anything better than playing in front of the home crowd. “I didn’t expect much from the tournament. But I played in the men’s doubles semifinals and singles pre-quarterfinals. The fans were fantastic,” he said.
Published – March 29, 2025 03:20 pm IST
