Not just Olympics, this was my best show ever: Sharath Kamal

Sharath Kamal dissected his game against arguably the greatest male paddler in the world, and why he believed this campaign was the best of all his four Olympics.

“Third game, third game. That was the one,” Sharath Kamal said, hammering his point about the pivotal moment in his singles third-round match against reigning Olympic champion Ma Long in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 20th-seeded Indian lost 1-4 (7-11, 11-8, 11-13, 4-11, 4-11) to the world No. 3, but not before an intense duel with the mighty Chinese.

Sharath Kamal put up a brave show against Ma Long. (Reuters)

In this interview, the 39-year-old - up against a “jinxed” draw in singles and mixed doubles (Sharath-Manika Batra pair faced the third seed Chinese Taipei pair in its first-round exit) - dissected his game against arguably the greatest male paddler in the world, and why he believed this campaign was the best of all his four Olympics.'

In your last three matches against Ma Long, you couldn’t win a game. You managed one in Tokyo and ran him close in the first three. How would you analyse the contest?

If I were to break down this match, it was more mental than tactical. I went with the intent to try and win; put the pressure on him; make him feel that he needs to win every point himself -- I’m not going to give him anything for free. That’s exactly what you saw until the last point. Even when I was 0-6 down (in the fourth game), I told myself, “Don’t give up, don’t give him the breathing space. It’s OK, let him kill you. But let him earn it”. And that is why everyone loved watching it. It was not because I matched him stroke for stroke on some points. But it was that attitude, that fighting spirit, the way I stood there and said, “You can be the boss, you can be the best in the business out here. But today, you need to show me that you’re the best”. This gives belief to the Indian table tennis fraternity that we can look at the best in the eye. Even on the biggest sporting event.

You were going for shots rather than settling for rallies…

Yes. Both against Tiago (Apolonia, in the second round) and today (Tuesday). The last time I beat Tiago was 15 years ago. With both those players, I can't play my game, because they’re better than me in that. Generally, my game is to get the touch closer to the net, let the opponent come in and then push him back and try and take control. In that game, Tiago is quicker than me and Ma Long is, well, Ma Long. So I had to go out of my comfort zone and make them play the kind of style they don’t like to play. I did that and I was successful. Tactically, my strategy was to push them away from the net, defend the first ball and then take over. It’s a little bit like how G Sathiyan plays. That’s the new-age style, and I’m happy that I could adapt to that.

Against Ma Long, I had my chances. I took them too, but I also missed them. Of course, looking back, we can say, “yaar woh ball thoda aaram se khelta toh point aa jata (he could have been a bit more patient on a point). Par agar mein dheere se maarta, toh woh mere mooh pe maar sakta tha (but if I had played defensive, the ball could have landed on my face)! That’s exactly what happened at 11-11. I played safe, into his body, and he just whacked the hell out of me. He took a time out, came back, and won the next point. That’s it. The pressure cooker had burst open.

His body language showed that he was a touch nervous at times…

I got him there. I got him to a place where I wanted him. But I still need a few more things. At 11-11, if I had won the point, things might have been different. He may still have won but it would have been a different match altogether.

When you’re to face an indomitable force like Ma Long in the third round of the Olympics, what is running in your mind the night before?

It was all about preparing to be positive. It’s how I approached even the Tiago match. If you want to win, you have to be better than me. Just that with Ma Long, he is better than me (laughs). I didn’t want to think, “OK, he is Ma Long, so I’ll just go out there, play my game and see what happens. No pressure”. I was in a zone where I didn’t want to give him a head start even before the match began.

Before going to Tokyo, you said you were feeling better than ever. Did you feel you played like that too?

Yes, this is my best (show). Maybe not result-wise, although a third-round entry is still my best result at the Olympics. But I would say this performance was better than any of my previous Games, because of the way that I played here and the level that I played here. It was my best not just at the Games, but maybe even on any of my Pro Tour or World Championships or Asian Cup outings.

Does it only reinforce your belief that there is more high-level table tennis left in you?

More than me, I think it reinstalls a lot of belief in the people who watched it.

India’s overall table tennis campaign too had positives: Batra entering the third round, Sutirtha Mukherjee winning her maiden Olympic match.

A lot of people watched my match today only because Manika had won her matches, Sutirtha won her debut match, I had won a match. It shows that Indian table tennis is heading in the right direction. Now, the pressure will be on us to take it higher in the next Olympic Games.