The Indian challenge all but ebbed at the WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025, but Manav Thakkar became the only Indian to reach then semi-finals after ousting his higher ranked Korean opponent, Lim Jonghoon from the chmapionship with a 3-2 upset victory on Saturday evening.
Earlier, most of the Indian challenge came to an end after the other man standing, Snehit Sujjavula also went down fighting to another high ranked French player in the quarter finals.
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But the match that made the entire Indian contingent and the spectators proud was Mannav Thakkar’s encounter with the Korean player who had knocked out the world Number 5 Hugo Calderano of Brazil.
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Manav Thakkar quickly saw an aggressive Korean running up a 2-0 games lead with his aggressive attacking play. It was only then that the Indian player mounted his attack with an all round display of his table tennis skills even as his coach was watching the game with a poker face from the sidelines.
But it was after a time out in the fourth game taken by Manav Thakkar, he returned as a different player, stunning the Korean with an array of shots, often catching his opponent on the wrong foot, and also confidently winning rallies. Coming from two games down, Manav Thakkar’s victory comes as blessing on an otherwise dull day as far as other encounters were concerned.
Though the scoreline may read Indian losses, many of the contests were very close and the scoreline does not tell the whole story of near misses, all an indication of shape of things to come for the paddlers.
Like Manan, Snehit, who defeated Achanta Sharat Kamal in his last international match in TT, lost to French player Poret Thibault, But he too went down fighting after producing an excellent array of shots on both forehand and backhand, at times, leaving the opponent surprised or catching him on the wrong foot.
Snehit, the lad from Hyderabad produced some high quality table tennis to rattle the world number 59 player from France, ranked several places above him with an array of shots on both forehand and backhand and deceptive down the line shots to come on top in lengthy rallies. For sure, a talent about whom the country will be hearing for some time to come.
It was Snehit who fought alongside Indian TT icon, Achanta Sharat Kamal in doubles event and then stood against him, and bested in him in the last international table tennis competitive game he has ever played. And that too in straight games, leaving the fans both happy, and a tad sad.
“And I’m really happy for Snehit for this wonderful tournament that he’s been having, and I’m pretty sure he will make it far for the next one,” Achanta Sharat Kamal said after his last match was over. About retiring, he said, “I made this decision six months ago. So of course, then when you make the decision, then the mind also doesn’t work towards having, you know, getting to that.”
Achanta Sharat Kamal, playing in his last competitive table tennis tournament as he had announced his retirement even before the WTT Star Contender Chennai tournament began. It was an emotional Chennai crowd that bid Sharat Kamal a farewell with thanks for serving the game that he began to play in Chennai as a young child.
It was a well-crafted TT journey for Sharat Kamal that began in Chennai and ended in Chennai.
Fortytwo year old Sharat Kamal is a ten-time national champion, five time Olympian, and is the highest ranking Indian player at world number 42, as per the latest WTT ranking list. He is 18 places above the next best Indian, Manav Thakkar. A gentleman to the core, on and off the field, Sharat Kamal is the very epitome of goodness as a human being.
On the professional sporting front, his record at Commonwealth could be difficult to beat — 13 medals across five editions.
With his performance at Chennai WTT, Sharat again proved that age was but a mere number. But after hanging his boots from competitive game, Sharat will be giving back to the game — with a proposed TT Academy in collaboration with Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu and will also be associated with International Table Tennis Federation’s (ITTF) Athletes Commission as its co-chair.
If Sharat’s match against compatriot Snehit brought down the curtains on his individual competitive TT career, it was also curtains for the Indian challenge at the WTT Star Contender Chennai series with all the players, win the mens and Womens section bowing out, but only after giving a tough fight to their respective opponents. The scoreline of the individual or doubles matches would not be telling the true story of what happened in the arena – with too many close games and stellar rallies that exhibited the all round game of Indian paddlers.
If the Indian Women’s contingent that included Manila Batra, Sreeja Akula, Ahikya Mukherjee, and other upcoming players lost their individual singles and doubles fixtures on Friday itself, the Indian Men’s challenge ended on Saturday after Sharat Kamal, Snehit lost in the Singles, Manav Thakkar, too bowed out in the same category, losing to Lim Jonghoon of Korea. But Manav Thakkar took a game off his victor, ranked many places above him in the world. The Korean player had caused a major upset being world Number 5, Hugo Calderano in the previous round.
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