Achanta Sharath Kamal
Sharath and Mouma Das
New
Delhi, April 16: Brushing aside his four-year-old London disappointment and
the third-place finish in the South Asia Zone qualifiers just a couple of
days ago, Achanta Sharath Kamal fought his way back well in the decisive final
round contest in Hong Kong’s Queen Elizabeth Stadium to grab the second men’s
slot today.
At
the Asian Olympic Games Qualification tournament’s Stage 2 men’s singles event,
the Indian defeated Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan 4-3 (12-14,11-6,3-11,7-11,11-4,11-
Sharath,
who made his first Olympic appearance at Athens
in 2004, will be at the Riocentro in Barra da Tijuca, the table tennis venue,
in August in the company of Soumyajit Ghosh, Manika Batra and Mouma Das, who
also made her first Olympic appearance at Athens .
A
maximum of two players per National Olympic Committee is allowed to compete in
both the singles event at the Games. And, for the first time, India will be represented by a full four-member
squad at Rio .
Testing contest
After
spending a relaxed night following his tough win over Saudi adversary Ali Alkhadrawi,
Sharath knew it was going to be a testing contest against the 25-year-old Alamiyan.
His pre-match calculations proved right as Sharath was down 1-3 after the
fourth game and all hopes of his third appearance at the Games seemed
dissipated.
“When I was
trailing 1-3, my mind was all about the next match that I will have to play if
I lose this one. If I had lost, I would have to play against Jiang Tianyi (of China
It
was then the 34-year-old Indian brought to the fore his grit and experience and
putting them together went on a rampage. Unable to withstand Sarath’s
combination drives—his backhand worked very well today—the Iranian wilted under
pressure as the Indian went from strength to strength to win the next three
games.
“My back is
totally plastered and I’m in pain everywhere, I couldn’t afford to lose and
play one more match,” said Sharath. “I seemed to have lost my motivation but in
the fifth game I made a good start and the tide changed, I started to dominate
the match.”
Talking on his
first and fourth games, Sharath said: “In the first game, I was up 8-5 and lost
14-12. That put more pressure on me. In the fourth, I was 6-2 up and lost eight
points in a row. Those games made a big difference and if I had won them, it would
have been an easier match. But, of course, if it was easy it wouldn’t have been
fun.”
Incidentally,
this was Sharath’s fifth win over Alamiyan and the Indian rated this as a huge
one. “After all, this was Olympic qualification and this would be there at the
top of all my wins against him,” said a completely drained out Sharath.
Never-say-die Mouma
Despite
losing her final round in the morning to North Korean Ri Myong Sun in straight games of 3-11,
9-11, 10-12, 5-11, Mouma had her chance in the losers final. And, as expectd,
the 32-year-old did not disappoint. She defeated Rimma Gufranova of Uzbekistan 4-1 (11-13, 11-9, 13-11, 11-7, 12-10) to book one of the two Games slots.
For
Mouma, it will be her second Olympics as she had first competed in the singles
event at Athens
along with Sharath in 2004.
“Though
I was a bit nervous, I knew I can beat my opponent. After the first game got
extended, I was more determined. But she was really good and challenged me at
every stage. The win in the third game was crucial and despite losing two match
points in the fifth, I was sure I am close to clinching the berth,” said the
five-time national champion and the most capped Asian in world championships.
President
of the Table Tennis Federation, Prabhat C.Chaturvedi, in his congratulatory
message to the paddlers wished them well for the Olympics. “We are really proud
of your achievements. You have taken Indian table tennis to new heights. You
proved it during the world championships at Bangkok
in February and now again in Hong Kong . These
are good sings, indeed,” said Chaturvedi in his message to the team members.
TTFI Press release and photographs
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