Achanta aims for consistency

“I still need some consistency. This year my ranking graph has gone up and come down.”

And he has a case. In February this year Sharath was ranked 70th ,but defeats against lower ranked players saw him plummet to the 91st spot in June. But back-to-back titles meant that he will break new grounds for Indian table tennis very soon.

Interestingly,he added that his improvement in his backhand play was one of the major reasons in him winning the Egypt Open.

“Asian players generally have strong forehands,while Europeans have strong backhands. So I had to work hard on my backhand. I could sense it that my opponents were caught off guard.”

Kamal,who missed out on a hat-trick of titles as he had lost in the semi-finals of the Indian Open held last month said that the Egypt Open win was the most satisfying of his two titles as it was a pro tour event and the points he gained had helped to boost his ranking. “I will savour this win for the rest of my life.”

R Choudhary,secretary of the Table Tennis Federation of India said,Sharath will be ranked somewhere around the 45th in the world when new rankings are released by the world body.

Looking forward,Sharath said he was eyeing a good show at the China Open that is scheduled to be held next month. “It’s the highest prize money tournament and I am looking forward to come out with some good results. China is the power house of table tennis and competition would be extremely tough. It’s like world championship for me and I am looking to make few upsets out of the top 50 players.”

Pull-outs won’t hurt
Sharath said that the Commonwealth Games would not be affected by the pull-out of stars like Usain Bolt. “It’s such a big event and matter of great pride to be representing your country. One should not be concerned about who is coming or not.” Sharath also said that as defending Commonwealth Games gold medalist,there would be added pressure as well as the bonus of playing in front of a home crowd.

Speaking about the fact that several junior players such as Utkarsh Garg in the U-13 category also performed well at the US Open,he said that it was necessary for the youngsters to push on. “As juniors we are quite good. At that age we have good hand control and speed which foreign players lack. However by the time the junior players turn into seniors,our opponents have also added power to their game and we are left behind. That becomes a setback.”