Sharath Kamal has task cut out against the great Ma Long
Several of sport’s greats tend to have one nickname accorded to them by fans — Ronaldo is CR7, Usain the Lightning Bolt, Nadal the King of Clay. But Chinese table tennis star Ma Long has three — The Dragon, which comes from the Chinese character in his name; Captain Long, because he is the captain of the national team; The Dictator, because he always dictates the play against whoever is on the other side of the table.
On Tuesday in Tokyo, that player will be India’s Sharath Kamal. The veteran paddler won his second-round singles match beating Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia 4-2 (2-11, 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9) on Monday. If, at 39, in his fourth Olympics, Sharath was hoping for the draw to show some kindness towards him, it hasn’t.
The world No 32 Indian will have to get past the reigning Olympic champion, and arguably the greatest table tennis player of all time, for a place in the Round of 16. The term “arguably” will, without doubt, be thrown out of the window should Ma Long win another gold medal in Tokyo. The 32-year-old from the Chinese city of Anshan is a three-time Olympic gold medallist, the joint second-most by any male paddler. Only compatriot Zhang Jike, whom Ma Long beat for the 2016 Rio singles triumph, has four medals at the Games with three golds and one silver.
Ma Long has also won every other major singles title the sport has to offer — World
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Championships (2015, 2017, 2019) and World Cups (2012, 2015) to complete a rare “Grand Slam” in table tennis. He has been on top of the world charts for a total of 64 months, a record among men’s players, starting from 2010, including an iron grip of 34 consecutive months as world No. 1 from March 2015 to December 2017.
But the legend of Ma Long can hardly be restricted to rankings (currently 3rd), titles and stats. On the table, the righthander has ferocious forehands, often coming in a loop from over the net, and has developed a solid backhand over the years to complement his natural side.
Sharath has a stronger forehand, too, and his backhand play worked equally well against Apolonia.
The Indian, feeling better than ever about his skills and fitness heading into this Olympics, will need every aspect of his game to be working like a dream against the Chinese, who will open his campaign against him, having received byes in the first two rounds.
“Hopefully, I can challenge him,” Sharath said on Monday. Note the choice of the words.