Sharath Kamal produced a stunning upset at the Singapore Smash, beating Slovenian world No.13 Darko Jorgic 3-1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-8,11-9) to march into the singles Round of 16 of the prestigious table tennis tournament on Wednesday.
The 41-year-old Commonwealth Games singles champion, now ranked 88 in the world, scripted a gritty comeback after losing the first game to turn the tables on the Slovenian who is the 2022 European Championships silver medallist. Sharath, who earned a main draw place after winning three qualifying rounds, will take on 22nd-ranked Egyptian Omar Assar on Thursday for a place in the quarter-finals.
The result would give a boost to Sharath, both in terms of his confidence and rankings. The veteran paddler has had little to cheer in singles of late, struggling to find his level after recovering from back issues that had troubled him last year. Losing to even younger Indian players at home and on the WTT tour, the multiple-time national champion admitted to feeling a slump in his mindset and intent.
With the World Team Championships as his goal, Sharath put in the work in the off-season to peak at the tournament that offered Paris Olympics spots. While he did deliver a few wins in the team Worlds last month in Busan, Singapore is where he appears to be showing signs of getting back to top shape. After winning his three qualifying rounds, he beat 51st-ranked Nicolas Burgos 3-0 on Monday before rallying to down Jorgic.
With the team spot for Paris Games secured that also brought along two singles quotas, Sharath’s singles revival — if he can maintain his steady rankings rise over the last few months — could make things interesting in terms of the singles representation in Paris. Down in the 100s a couple of months ago, Sharath is set to jump considerably in the rankings from 88 after his Singapore showing.
Currently, Harmeet Desai (No.64) and Manav Thakkar (83) are above him. After India secured the team qualification earlier this month, Sharath said his focus will be on doing well individually in the team event and, “if the singles qualification happens along with it, it happens.”
Asian Games bronze medallists Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee went down 3-1 (4-11, 14-12, 3-11, 9-11) to the Romanian-Spanish combine of Adina Diaconu and Maria Xiao in the women’s doubles Round of 16.