"Was just on my own playing in the circuit and making ends meet" - Sharath Kamal opens up on tough early days

“Age is no barrier, it’s a limitation you put on your mind.” This quote, from former American athlete Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee, comes to mind when thinking about ace Indian table tennis player Sharath Kamal.

Even after bagging 10 national championships titles, seven Commonwealth Games medals, one Asian Games bronze, and two Asian Championships team event bronze, the 41-year-old is still competing at the highest level.

He is out there having a tussle with his mind and body to have another shot at an improbable Olympics medal.

Sharath peaked well in his late 30s after enduring a slump between 2011 and 2015, followed by a hamstring injury, which nearly ended his career. However, the Tamil Nadu player put in the hard yards for his fitness and technical switch, particularly with the backhand move.

With the game becoming faster and younger players adopting a unique style of play, Sharath does realize the challenges.

Going back to 2003, when Sharath Kamal won his first national championships title, an immediate need arose for the youngster to move to Europe. There just wasn’t enough scope in India at that point to grow in the sport.

Things like lack of exposure, training, and competition were pondered on by the 21-year-old.

Sharath Kamal said that there wasn’t any kind of encouragement from the governments - centre or state - back then. To get expensive equipment like rubbers and rackets, along with the training fees in Europe, was an arduous task.

The player was unaided by funds for more than a decade until 2016, which he calls a year that brought fundamental changes in the Indian table tennis system.

“Until 2016, I never had any funding from any government or NGOs. Nearly for 12 years, I was just on my own playing in the circuit and making ends meet. Just my dad in the initial years helped me, but he told me to stabilize in one or two years,” Sharath told Sportskeeda in an exclusive interview.

“Then I started doing well in Europe and once you do well, you start earning match fees from the clubs. Maybe training gets free because you are a good player, so they would need you and take care of an apartment.”

“We have spent nights in train stations and airports” - Sharath Kamal reveals challenges in early stage of his career

The struggle didn’t end with just the lack of proper equipment. While on tours, Sharath had, at times, to pass the night at train stations and airports, due to the inability to afford accommodation. He hopes that the younger generation will not have to face the same difficulties.

“We have spent nights in train stations and airports because we didn’t have money to spend the night for €40-50 for a room. We have all had these tough times. I cannot imagine any of the younger kids would do that and it’s not fair enough to do that,” he revealed.

India created history when it sent four entries for the singles category during the 2016 Rio Olympics Table Tennis event. Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, Mouma Das, and Manika Batra featured in the showpiece event, though all of them lost in the first round itself.

That was a paradigm shift in the country’s table tennis structure with Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) coming into the picture. The franchise-based tournament has completed four seasons with a different winner every year.

“Now, with UTT, we get the best players that sit with you, dine with you, talk about table tennis and train with you. That’s the best experience these (younger) players are getting,” said the Indian player.

Sharath Kamal was recently part of the Indian team’s bronze medal-winning campaign at the Asian Table Tennis Championships 2023 in South Korea. India retained the bronze in the men’s team event after they lost 0-3 against Chinese Taipei.