“They call me a veteran etc but when I am playing TT, do you see a 40-yr-old,” CWG gold medalist Achanta Sharath Kamal – Times of India
At the start of the pandemic two years ago, Achanta Sharath Kamal found himself at that stage of his life where “even water was turning into fat”. Today, at 40, he is defying all ageist stereotypes. The self-confessed ‘dinosaur’ of Indian table tennis — and indeed, Indian sport — returned from the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with three gold medals, a dream haul that, he tells Sunday Times, would not have been possible twenty years ago. Excerpts:
What does it mean to be winning — and winning big — at 40, an age where most people in sport are long retired?
It means that people are overly emphasising that I’m 40 years old. (Laughs) I don’t know, all the names people give me — war-veteran, old-horse — it’s just that ,‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ When you look at me in court, you don’t see a 40-year-old playing, right? You see someone who is jumping around like crazy and shouting his guts out. I’m happy that I can play like this at this stage of my life and still win gold.
When the need is no longer money, what motivates you to keep going?
It’s very simple in a sense. For me, every two years — the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games cycle — there’s a new challenge. In the CWG, it’s how to defend my singles title (he last won in 2006, 16 years ago), which I did successfully this time but there’s always this feeling that it’ll be good to do it one more time. Then there’s the mixed doubles title which has always evaded me. This time, again, I felt it would be good to have that. I didn’t think it would be gold this time, but these are small challenges you look up to and take on. Even for the national title, I may have won it 10 times, but if I don’t go in for the 11th time, I’d feel I haven’t got it.
There’s a continuity that is integral to sports. Maybe about five years ago, you were probably looking over your shoulder at what talent was coming to replace you? Do you still do it?
I stopped looking over my shoulder a long time ago. Of course, there’s this very healthy competition within the group, but personally what is very important is that I am always competing with myself. I realised long way back that it’s an easier thing to fight with oneself to be motivated than trying to emulate somebody else. For instance, I don’t have an Olympic medal, that becomes a benchmark now.
Considering that the field is getting younger, more competitive and the fitness levels are higher, without an Asian Games individual medal, or an Olympic medal, how true is the satisfaction really?
Compared to where I come from, I’m actually very happy. If I was in a country like Japan, or China, and all others were individual champions, honestly, I would still be thinking, ‘What am I doing?’ But, from where we were, we’ve come this far, and also, I have to be realistic. At this point in time, to get an Olympic medal is not through the singles, but it’ll be more through the doubles.
Would it be wrong for you to call yourself a late bloomer in that sense?
Oh, a very, very late bloomer. I only started playing for India when I was 20, while many of my colleagues probably started playing for India right from the under-18, under-16 categories. Being a very late bloomer is probably one of the reasons why I’m still able to do what I’m doing.
You give the feeling of being the backbencher of Indian table tennis…
When I started coming into the national team, or even before that, I was a lot more timid, quiet and reserved. But the thing with doing well, and winning, is the confidence that it gives you. In table tennis, and in life as well. So, now I have become the leader. Until then I was the backbencher.
Physically, which shape have you been your best at — right now, or 20 years ago?
Oh, right now, there’s no question. For my sport, and not if I have to run the 100 metre dash of course. That a 20-year-old me would do better. But I know the demands of my sport, with all the advancements in sports science, a personalised trainer, the developments in dietary research, so, yes, right now.
What would you tell a 20-year-old Sharath today?
I would tell him to believe in the process. If you have the process right, you are able to understand what the body requires, what the sport requires. The experience will come. You know, between 2004 to almost 2012, I was running around from pillar to post trying to find or gain knowledge. My going to Europe and playing professionally taught me a lot about the basics of the game and that knowledge holds you in good stead. Also, a certain sense of peace, which I owe to having read A P J Abdul Kalam Azad. When you find an inner peace around problems, or even success, then you are able to solve it.
What does it mean to be winning — and winning big — at 40, an age where most people in sport are long retired?
It means that people are overly emphasising that I’m 40 years old. (Laughs) I don’t know, all the names people give me — war-veteran, old-horse — it’s just that ,‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ When you look at me in court, you don’t see a 40-year-old playing, right? You see someone who is jumping around like crazy and shouting his guts out. I’m happy that I can play like this at this stage of my life and still win gold.
When the need is no longer money, what motivates you to keep going?
It’s very simple in a sense. For me, every two years — the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games cycle — there’s a new challenge. In the CWG, it’s how to defend my singles title (he last won in 2006, 16 years ago), which I did successfully this time but there’s always this feeling that it’ll be good to do it one more time. Then there’s the mixed doubles title which has always evaded me. This time, again, I felt it would be good to have that. I didn’t think it would be gold this time, but these are small challenges you look up to and take on. Even for the national title, I may have won it 10 times, but if I don’t go in for the 11th time, I’d feel I haven’t got it.
There’s a continuity that is integral to sports. Maybe about five years ago, you were probably looking over your shoulder at what talent was coming to replace you? Do you still do it?
I stopped looking over my shoulder a long time ago. Of course, there’s this very healthy competition within the group, but personally what is very important is that I am always competing with myself. I realised long way back that it’s an easier thing to fight with oneself to be motivated than trying to emulate somebody else. For instance, I don’t have an Olympic medal, that becomes a benchmark now.
Considering that the field is getting younger, more competitive and the fitness levels are higher, without an Asian Games individual medal, or an Olympic medal, how true is the satisfaction really?
Compared to where I come from, I’m actually very happy. If I was in a country like Japan, or China, and all others were individual champions, honestly, I would still be thinking, ‘What am I doing?’ But, from where we were, we’ve come this far, and also, I have to be realistic. At this point in time, to get an Olympic medal is not through the singles, but it’ll be more through the doubles.
Would it be wrong for you to call yourself a late bloomer in that sense?
Oh, a very, very late bloomer. I only started playing for India when I was 20, while many of my colleagues probably started playing for India right from the under-18, under-16 categories. Being a very late bloomer is probably one of the reasons why I’m still able to do what I’m doing.
You give the feeling of being the backbencher of Indian table tennis…
When I started coming into the national team, or even before that, I was a lot more timid, quiet and reserved. But the thing with doing well, and winning, is the confidence that it gives you. In table tennis, and in life as well. So, now I have become the leader. Until then I was the backbencher.
Physically, which shape have you been your best at — right now, or 20 years ago?
Oh, right now, there’s no question. For my sport, and not if I have to run the 100 metre dash of course. That a 20-year-old me would do better. But I know the demands of my sport, with all the advancements in sports science, a personalised trainer, the developments in dietary research, so, yes, right now.
What would you tell a 20-year-old Sharath today?
I would tell him to believe in the process. If you have the process right, you are able to understand what the body requires, what the sport requires. The experience will come. You know, between 2004 to almost 2012, I was running around from pillar to post trying to find or gain knowledge. My going to Europe and playing professionally taught me a lot about the basics of the game and that knowledge holds you in good stead. Also, a certain sense of peace, which I owe to having read A P J Abdul Kalam Azad. When you find an inner peace around problems, or even success, then you are able to solve it.
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