“The match against Ma Long was one of the best I have ever played in my career” - Sharath Kamal on losing to defending champion in Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Veteran Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal has stated the Tokyo Olympics match against Ma Long as one of his special Olympic moments. The four-time Olympian is eyeing to bag his maiden Olympic medal in Paris, scheduled to start on July 26.

In an interview with Ultimate Table Tennis, Sharath Kamal, who made his Olympic debut at the Athens Games in 2004, got candid and revealed the match against Ma Long at Tokyo 2020 as one of his top five Olympic moments.

Sharath defeated Tiago Apolonia from Portugal in the second round to make the cut for the third round against China’s Ma Long in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Long is considered one of the greatest paddlers of all time and entered the Tokyo Games as the reigning Olympic champion.

“The match against Ma Long was one of the best I have ever played in my career. Out of the five times I have played with him, I have won just one set against him and that was in Tokyo. And I am very proud of what happened there, especially coming in after Covid,” Sharath Kamal stated.

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“I really feel I did well” - Sharath Kamal on his Tokyo 2020 performance

Notably, the Tokyo Games had been postponed by a year after the COVID pandemic hit the globe. Indian athletes had a tough time preparing for the Games due to a country-wide lockdown and the second wave. However, athletes across other countries started training by then.

“India had a very tough situation especially after the second wave. People in the rest of the world started their training back and, mid-way in the lockdown in India, we were still confined to home workouts, I was playing on my terrace. It was very tough. I was training all the time in India with the limited resources we had. From that difficult mindset to getting to the Olympics and doing my best, I really feel I did well,” he added.

Though Sharath won the second game 11-8, he went down fighting 4-1 (7-11, 11-8, 11-13, 4-11, 4-11) in the encounter. Interestingly, Ma Long went on to clinch the gold medal. Long held the World No. 1 ranking for a total of 64 months, the most by any male paddler in the history of table tennis.

Sharath Kamal has been appointed as the male flag-beared for the Indian contingent. Importantly, he played an important role in propelling the Indian men’s team to qualify for the Paris Olympics 2024 for the first time in the history of the Games.