Indian table tennis star Sharath Kamal garnered buzz earlier this month after the Olympian announced his international retirement.
Ace paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal led the way with a dominating performance as Chennai Lions thrashed Puneri Paltan Table Tennis 12-3 to record the biggest win in the event's history and reach the threshold of the semifinals of the Ultimate Table Tennis 2024 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday.
Sharath Kamal to be the flag bearer
The India duo of Sharath and Sreeja, with a solid combination of experience and youth, beat Javen Choong and Karen Lyne of Malaysia 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6 to win the elusive gold medal.
The Indian men's team fielded its top-ranked players Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai for the first doubles match against Ramhimlian Bawm and Mohutasin Ahmed Ridoy at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre.
Sharath Kamal has decided to self-quarantine himself at home though the screening at the Chennai Airport showed his body temperature was normal.
The two experienced and in-form players will combine with the likes of Anthony Amalraj, Harmeet Desai and the exuberant Manav Thakkar. As for the world rankings of the three players are concerned, none of them is in the top-100 list.
India's men's table tennis team finished second in Group D after defeating Vietnam 3-0 in their final clash before the knockouts.
Indian paddler G. Sathiyan broke into the top-100 while six other male and three female players hit the jackpot in Table Tennis world rankings, released on Tuesday.
UTT was originally planned to take place last year but was postponed due to the Rio Olympics.
