Table Tennis: Positive Sharath Kamal confident of a World Cup berth
A thoroughbred that Sharath Kamal is, he was counting on the positives than the negatives soon after he was drawn in group C of ITTF-ATTF 30th Asian Cup.
“Even if I finish second in my group, I am sure of making the semi-final cut,” said the ace paddler, who is seeded ninth. That was the confidence and character that spoke volumes of the Indian paddler who is currently ranked No. 47 in the world and on whom the entire country’s focus would for the next three days as one of the biggest continental events gets underway at the TransStadia from Saturday.
Drawn in a group that has Japanese Jun Mizutani, the No.2 seed, Korean Lee Sangsu and Chinese Lin Gaoyun, the seventh seed, one would have thought it is a tough ask for the Indian, particularly when he takes on the Korean in his opening match.
Sharath has beaten him on a few occasions before and twice ran him close in recent times. Understandably, Sharath was not thinking about that as much except admitting that the first match on Saturday would really set the tone for booking next month’s World Cup ticket in Belgium.
He has dealt with the Gaoyuan, too, a few times …read more