04 March,2021 04:10 PM IST | Mumbai | Sundari Iyer
India`s Achanta Sharath Kamal competes against Maharu Yoshimura of Japan during the ITTF-Asian Table Tennis Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on September 16, 2019 PIC/Getty Images
India's table tennis star Achanta Sharath Kamal, who advanced to the second round of the World Table Tennis Contender series with a hard fought 3-2 win over Czech Republic's Pavel Sirucek on Wednesday, wants to give his best to achieve his lone goal of winning an Olympic medal at the Tokyo Games.
"At the 2018 Asian Games, we won our first bronze medal in 60 years of Asian Games history. This has got us closer to winning an Olympic medal. The one and only goal is the Olympic medal this year at the Tokyo Olympic Games." Of course, he has to qualify for the biggest sporting stage. The World Olympic qualification tournament will be held in Qatar (March 14-17).
"Later, I will take part in the Asian Olympic qualification tournament from March 18-20," said the nine-time national champion.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him. "Lockdown gave me an opportunity to spend time with family. I have been married for 11 years now and have two kids [Suyasha and Tejas], but it is only during this lockdown I spent so much time with my family. That was the best thing that could have happened during the lockdown," remarked Kamal.
