Paris, Jul 24 (IANS): The Paris 2024 Olympics are all set to begin on Thursday and the excitement levels keep on rising as the sportspersons are all waiting anxiously to give their best at the mega event and clinch medals for the country. India have never won a medal in table tennis at the Olympics and the squad is hoping to make history in Paris.
In a conversation with IANS, veteran paddler and India’s flag-bearer Sharath Kamal spoke about the squad’s chances of making history in Paris as the men's team has never reached the quarterfinals stage in the event. “From table tennis, even one (medal) is going to be an outside chance. But of course, we are going to play to get those medals. We are going to try everything possible to get those medals. And we'll be really happy even if we get one in the team,” Kamal told IANS.
Kamal is often regarded as India’s best-ever TT player having won seven gold medals in Commonwealth Games, two Asian Games medals and three Olympics appearances to his name. He will be accompanying female flag bearer PV Sindhu in the opening ceremony of his fourth Olympics on Friday.
“I have put (my) all into this Olympic Games, all my energy, mentally, physically, all possible ways into this Olympic Games. And a lot into the team events that will start on August 5. So I hope, I really hope I've done my preparation well. I'm in really good shape. Practice sessions have been very good. Sparring with other players also. I can clearly see I'm playing really well. So all this has to just translate on the table during the competition.”
“I'm pretty much confident about the team doing well because all of us have been doing extremely well in recent years. The girls also have been they have been doing better than us in the last few months.
"So hopefully when we do well, we start with the team wins, with a win in the first match. And then from there, every match is going to be different. Of course, also quarterfinals at the Olympic Games will be the first time for Indian table tennis. And that we hope to do,” added the 42-year-old.
The talented Indian table tennis contingent will be participating in the men’s team, women’s team, men’s singles and women’s singles events marking the country’s first-ever appearance in the team events.
The men’s team includes Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manav Thakkar, Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran as the reserve. Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath will be representing the women’s team with Ayhika Mukherjee as the reserve. The team eagerly waits for the draw which will take place at 5 PM local time (8:30 PM IST) on Thursday.
“The preparations have been fantastic. The last leg of the preparations was in Europe. We were on the border of Germany and France. We spent nearly 12 days there, on the campus. And we also had the boxing team and P.V Sindhu there. Neeraj (Chopra) was also there, but he left before we came in.
"So really good preparation there, with different sparring partners from different countries. And now we came into the village. We came in on July 21 getting nearly 6-7 days before our matches (are set to) start, to understand the venue, the balls, the tables. Of course, we've been practicing the same things over the last weeks. Now again, in the actual match arena, how the ball feels and everything. We're trying to acclimatize to that,” Sharath Kamal concluded.