Achanta Sharat Kamal Interview 2022 was a year I wished would never end

How would you sum up the 2022 season?

It was a year I wished would never end. It’s been the best year I’ve had in terms of performance or the kind of recognition I’ve had for table tennis that I’ve had. After this, the vice-chairman of the IOA Athletes Commission became the co-chairman of the ITTF Athletes Commission. A lot has happened, especially in the second half of 2022.

The beginning was also good. I played the semifinals of the world ranking tournament [WTT Contender, Doha, in March], then won the Indian National Championship for the 10th time. All these things are not even talked about because they are comparatively smaller than later.

Table tennis: Sharath Kamal eyes Commonwealth Games gold thanks to 10th national title

I thought 2021 was my best year before because of the Olympics. As for the level and the quality I played against Olympic champion Ma Long, it’s still talked about. And I believe that in the years to come it will also be talked about because of the way I played, the way I carried myself and the table tennis I played. It was something special, it was at a very high level. I really didn’t know if I could achieve this kind of performance in 2022, but the results have just surpassed 2021. I really can’t expect anything better than what is happening.

There was one gold medal at the CWG that you had never won before in mixed doubles. Remember the moments leading up to winning the medal with Sreeja Akula?

Going into the tournament, I didn’t know what to expect. Sreejas coach, Somnath Ghosh, I had played with him years ago. Nowadays, all the coaches are people I’ve played with at some point. I think that shows my longevity. I had played together with him and we have been friends for about 25-30 years. Sreeja had won the national tournament and we knew he would be in the team. After the national match he asked me can you play with Sreeja if you don’t mind.

I said yes, play well.

CWG 2022, Table Tennis: How Sreeja Akula reset and struck historic gold with Sharath Kamal

We had good practice together in Hyderabad. Sreeja expected a lot. He wanted not to make mistakes, he felt that because of him we must not lose.

In mixed doubles, it is easy for boys to create opportunities to win points. But if the girls are missing, it’s hard for the boys. But especially in the final, he was great. A lot of times I feel like the next time if the ball is played in a certain way, how should I respond, I keep telling him. In the finale, when the thought occurred to me, he had already done it.

And he kept giving me confidence. I played well in the early rounds. From the quarter-finals onwards it was difficult for me, but he really rose to the challenge.

In Ma Long’s match at the Tokyo Olympics, you talked earlier that you didn’t do anything special, you just showed your intention. Did it become a yardstick for you to show what you were capable of and what you wanted to deliver over and over again?

Yes it did. I had a lot of time to prepare for the Olympics. It was supposed to happen in 2020, then it got pushed to 2021, and then there was the Covid hiatus. I only practiced in India.

Until 2020, Id always go somewhere in Europe or Asia, be with the best players preparing. In India, of course, I had to adjust a lot of things around me to stimulate the kind of environment that was abroad. But at the same time, I gained a lot of confidence because I was preparing for the Olympics.

I knew this month I’m doing this, next month I’m doing that. There was a block every three months and a goal period every six or nine months. Of course, I had a lot of experience reevaluating and trying to understand myself. I started my preparations for Rio four months before the Games, but I felt it was too close to my mind and body. I have to start the session at least five months before. And with age, the difference just gets bigger and bigger.

But for Tokyo I had nine months to prepare and nothing else to do. My important dimensions became different. Your routine was different because you don’t travel as much. Diet, training, everything was under control because nothing else happened, nothing to interfere with the preparation.

What lessons did you take with you from Tokyo to Birmingham?

No doubt it was a tough time all over the world. (pandemic) was a difficult time. Thoughts changed. For example, I had asked permission to train in the stadium, but they said, are you crazy? People are dying around you and you ask for training. It put things into perspective.

Priorities were different, nobody cared if you had to train. The primary goal was to save lives and fight the pandemic. At that point I had to be careful of myself. You didn’t know what kind of effects (the virus) had. We were scared, but we had to continue our training. It was a difficult situation.

But when the Indian team went to the Olympics, at least I got the feeling that wow, this is the best thing that can happen to us. We got out of the situation we were in in April-May and now we were here in Tokyo. Everything was positive about it.

That’s one big thing I learned. I had to take things more positively, the mind has to be in that state to perform like that.

A lot has happened in the build-up to these Commonwealth Games and I learned a lot from preparing for Tokyo.

You had a medical procedure on your leg this time last year. How is your leg now, one year from now?

Basically what happened is because of the impact I have constantly (on my feet). Especially since I’m tall and heavy, not skinny. And with my style of play, where I don’t really block the ball, I just play explosively, there was extra calcium in the heel bone. It caused problems, it’s a lifelong problem and there’s nothing I can do about it. But I just got a little treatment at least a year before the Commonwealth Games.

I made it to the WC and in December I decided to finish it so that I have time to prepare for the CWG from January 2022 onwards. That was the plan. Also at that time, almost nothing happened because the citizens were also postponed.

But this procedure was also part of the preparation of the CWG.

There was one particular day during the Commonwealth Games when you played six matches in different events. The mental side is one thing, but there was also a lot of physical fatigue involved. Is it something you are trained to do?

It was completely planned and I had specially trained for it. In 2014 I had lost the singles semi-finals and then the bronze medal match to Liam Pitchford. I realized that at the time I couldn’t stay in good enough shape to compete in four events in 15 days, plus there was the age factor. I was getting tired.

Then it got better in 2018, but even there on the last day I felt it was quite tough. At that time the coach told me that this is not something I am doing for myself but for the country. The reason was bigger and because of that, even if you don’t feel like your best day, you still say, come on, I have to do this. I knew what the situation would be, so I started planning accordingly.

CWG 2022, Table Tennis: Achanta Sharath Kamal works harder off the table to succeed at it

My preparation (for 2022) started with running every day at 6 a.m. After that, I go straight to training. I take a short break, eat breakfast and then go to the gym and finish around 12. Then I come home, rest for an hour or two. At first I spent time with my family in the evenings. But then as CWG approached, start one activity in the evening, be it table tennis or exercise. Something like an hour, an hour and a half. I worked hard a day because I knew it would be like this.

You would also go for a run in the peak heat of Chennai

Yeah. Go for a 5 km run on the beach or play outdoor basketball around 12:00. In fever. Just to build heat tolerance, but also trying to focus on what I was doing. Of course, I didn’t play basketball that seriously, it was for fun. But just to get baskets in, move and pass, you get tired in 10 minutes standing in that heat.

Now I can play for 45 minutes in the sun. If it’s really hot, I won’t complain. I have put myself through that procedure, like torture. Do it once a week while building the CWG.

But because of that, recovery was very important. It’s something that really helps you reverse age.

I go into the cryotherapy chamber at minus 140 degrees Celsius. Id stand there for about five minutes wearing only gloves, socks and underwear. Then when you come out, you don’t feel it right away, but the next day you feel fresh and you can put yourself through that grind. This is how soccer players do it overseas, even LeBron James does it. These are the kinds of things I’ve learned from other sports, from sports science.

I monitor my heart rate, my workload. During CWG Id go to the recovery center every night and work on my routine. After the matches, we go to eat dinner, then take a short break, go in the hot pool for three minutes, then in the ice bath, which is about 12 degrees, for another three minutes. It helps blood circulation which keeps you mentally alert.

These are the things I continued to do and it helped me feel completely fresh until the last drop on the last day.

Has the reception been different this time when you went to Germany to play table tennis?

It was. Many people had followed the CWG. Last time, people didn’t really know what it was. Social media has helped people understand. I had some really good wins, Pitchford (men’s singles finals), Paul Drinkhall (men’s singles semis), Aruna Quadri (men’s team semis).

Many young people watched those matches and they talked about it. It feels good that you were a part of something that so many people are talking about.

What are your goals for 2023?

The Asian Games are there and the Olympic qualifiers are starting. Most importantly, there will be the 2024 Paris Olympics. That is the most important, the main goal. That’s the most important, one thing I don’t have in my cat. That’s what I’m going to go after. In the team championships, we probably have a fair chance of getting a medal because there are only three matches. In singles, you have to win six matches. But as a team, if we all have three good days, we came home with a medal.