CWG 2018 | Since last two years, we have raised benchmark to very high level: Sharath Kamal

Star paddler Sharath Kamal talks to Rutvick Mehta about factors that have led to Indian teams’ unprecedented twin gold medals in this CWG

It has been a day since your team clinched a memorable gold. Has it all sunk in yet?

It's a great feeling to win the gold for our country, especially when you see the tri-colour going up while our national anthem is being played. It is the best feeling one can ever have. We came in as the favourites in this edition of the CWG as we were seeded No.1, and we finished as the No. 1. So, everything went according to plan and all of us delivered what was expected from us.

There was a lot of pressure. In 2014, we had only one silver medal in the men's doubles where I was partnering Amalraj Anthony. So with that pressure more on me as the captain of the team, I had to focus on my performance along with motivating the team to do well. It was a bit hard but when I stood strong against Singapore in the semifinals by winning both my singles 3-0, the team gained a lot of confidence, and with this confidence we blanked out Nigeria 3-0 in the final.

We have won back the medals we won in 2010, and we have won the gold in the team event after 12 years. This was a redemption for not winning it in 2014.

You first won a CWG gold back in 2006, in both singles and team. Twelve years since, you've tasted your fourth CWG gold. Has this been the most satisfying of all?

Personally for me, the 2006 gold is still the most memorable one, because no one knew us before that. We made the biggest impact for table tennis back then, especially beating the favourites Singapore in the men's teams final.

The women team's gold has made it sweeter and even more historic, isn't it? How do you analyse the women team's efforts?

While we were the favourites to win the gold in men's team, the women team was the underdogs against the mighty Singapore women's team who are world No. 4. Manika's (Batra) contribution to the team was phenomenal, beating world No. 5 in her first singles and also another top player in her second singles. The doubles victory of Mouma (Das) and Madhurika (Patkar) added a lot of pressure on the Singaporeans, while Manika finished her last match in style to win the gold.

India now have as many as six men and two women in the top-100 of the world rankings. What have been the factors behind the formation of this larger pool of quality paddlers at the top?

We have had a great side with old and young players, Amalraj and myself being the elder players in the team. The younger players – Sathiyan, Harmeet (Desai) and Sanil (Shetty) – have also been doing very well on the world circuit currently. Sathiyan especially has had a great 2017, and is thus the highest ranked among us at No. 47 in the world. His partnership with Harmeet in the doubles was commendable and they won the important doubles match against Singapore. We work very well as a team and since the last two years, we have raised the benchmark to a very high level.

You've been around the Indian TT circuit for the longest time among all. What has led to that benchmark being raised to this level now?

The reasons for all this improvement with six men players and two women players in the top 100 is due to the administrative and organisation of TTFI (Table Tennis Federation of India) and SAI (Sports Authority of India). Also what has helped is the hiring of foreign coach Massimo Costantini in 2016. We won the second division of the world championships, and since then, there has been a steady and consequent program of training and tournaments for over two years, which has helped us win this gold medal. We have had sufficient funding from SAI, which was utilised in the right manner by TTFI to help the players.

Has the formation of a league like the Ultimate Table Tennis helped Indians in facing the top world players head on and having the belief of beating them?

UTT and 11 Sports have been doing a great job in improving the standard of table tennis in Indian at different level, which starts from the grassroot level and goes up to the top-most level in the world with UTT having some of the best players in the world. This June will be its second season and already, there has been a great impact on Indian table tennis. But I believe that by another three to four years from now, we would get the maximum benefit from the league, which could help us get Olympic medals.

Finally, are you confident of more medals coming in from the individual events that start today?

The entire team is highly motivated for the individual events as both our teams finished fourth in the 2014 CWG. So, the camp is excited. I am partnering Sathiyan in the doubles and we are the top seeds. We will win another medal for sure in that event, if not a gold medal. Singles is always open and I hope to win one medal in the singles too.