Paddler Sharath triumphs amidst Corona Virus scare
MUMBAI : As he surged towards the title clearing round after round at the 2020 ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open in Muscat, India’s Achanta Sharath Kamal was waging battles on twin fronts – against his opponents across the table and the mixed feeling of worry, fear and confusion of the prevailing conditions.
Fear over the health scare caused by the spread of Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic was omnipresent in the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex at the Omani capital and Sharath too was impacted by it.
His worries were about maintaining his world ranking, which had brought him to Oman to play this tournament as maintaining his rankings is essential to get a berth in the Tokyo Olympics if it happens.
His state of confusion was over what would happen to the entire Olympic Qualification Programme that has been at a standstill because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Asian Qualification Tournament has been postponed to May and even that would happen only if the situation improves in the next few weeks.
But Sharath maintained his composure and went on to claim his first ITTF level title since winning the Egypt Open in 2010, beating top-seeded Marcos Freitas of Portugal in his first Challenger event final on Sunday.
The 37-year-old Sharath defeated the Portuguese paddler 6-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 17-15, emerging supreme in six games after his rival had fought back to win the fifth game at 3-11.
After losing the first game, Sharath looked in trouble before pulling off a fine recovery from 3-7 down to win eight of the following nine points (11-8).
Freitas then enjoyed a mini comeback of his own, saving two game point opportunities but he couldn’t stop Sharath from taking game three.
The two finalists’ scored alternate wins in games four and five before playing out a thrilling game six — Sharath saved two game points only for Freitas to rescue a championship point with a back edge of the table winner.
The Indian saved three further game points, before capitalising on his second championship point to seal the title.
SURREAL ATMOSPHERE
Though he was elated at winning the title, it was a strange tournament for Sharath as the usual bonhomie associated with table tennis events was missing, with players taking precautions over the virus scare.
“Players are taking lot of precautions by constantly washing hands as advised. We are trying to have as minimum contact with each other. Also no shaking hands even after matches and before matches. Things are pretty scary especially after the locking down of many European countries as players didn’t know whether they should go back or continue with the tournament,” Sharath told Hindustan Times from Muscat.
Playing in the event was physically and emotionally draining for the players, said teammate Harmeet Desai, who lost in the singles semi-finals to Freitas earlier in the day and had reached doubles quarter-finals with Sharath.
“The situation is definitely not comfortable, playing a tournament at this time when the world is going through a crisis. It was really tough, emotionally and mentally to play in these circumstances, because it is a very unique situation where every player has to take care of himself and also focus on his game,” he said.
“I stayed indoors all the time, and went out to go to the stadium only for my matches, and came back as soon as possible to my room. For both tournaments— Qatar Open and Oman Open—I was staying alone in a single room. That doesn’t happen usually in our Pro Tours. We were not shaking hands with the players.”