‘ Ready to pass on burden to Manika’

New Delhi, April 19: He has shouldered the burden of the Indian table tennis for more than a decade and Achanta Sharath Kamal is now happy that the country has finally found a new star in Manika Batra.

Manika was the star of India’s successful Commonwealth Games campaign with four medals including double gold in the team event and the women’s singles.

“I couldn’t be happier for her. I told her on the final day that now the responsibility is on you to take the sport forward. I have done my bit in the last 10 years,” Kamal said.

“Beating world no. 4 Feng Tianwei ( triple Olympic medallist) twice was no mean feat. The Singaporean is still one of the best in the world. The good thing is that Manika always wants to improve and I hope she goes on to do bigger things,” India’s top male paddler said.

Three gold medals at the Commonwealth Games has given Sharath the confidence to go on for another four years.

The 2020 Games will probably will be the fifth and the last Olympics for the 35year- old, who had earlier thought of taking a call on his future after the Tokyo edition. But team gold, doubles silver and a singles bronze at Gold Coast has prompted him to reassess his future.

“A lot of international coaches and players I met in Gold Coast told me that I am playing well and can easily go on till the 2022 CWG in Birmingham. I too feel that I am playing well and to be honest I have started thinking about 2022,” Sharath said.

“We have a strong bunch of players now but the support staff still feels that the team needs me at this point of time,” said the world number 48.

India finished with a record eight medals in table tennis at Gold Coast including three gold, two silver and three bronze.