Chennai, a sports hub that has nurtured many a sports person, also never fails to recognise their achievements. Through clubs, events, and even special functions in schools and colleges, these sportspersons are often bestowed with honours. For 14 years now, the Rotary Club of Madras T Nagar has honoured sports persons and those associated with various sports. On Monday, celebrating the club’s 40 years of service, two individuals who have made significant contributions to sports — ace table tennis player Sharath Kamal, and Paramjit Singh, a tournament director with the Indian Golf Union — were bestowed with the Life Time Achievement Award and the Vocational Excellence Award, respectively. Tennis legend Vijay Amritraj was the chief guest.
An elated Sharath, arguably India’s greatest paddler, told CE, “It is nice to get the award. But getting it from Vijay Amritraj sir is fantastic. I have a long-standing relationship with this Rotary Club; it is like a family to me. I went to school with some of the members here.”
Sharath’s father A Srinivasa Rao, and uncle and coach Muralidhara Rao were in attendance. “My father and uncle have played a big role for me in table tennis. They have worked so hard. All credits go to them because, as coaches, they have sacrificed a lot. As a player, I achieve, but what goes behind is what they have done,” said an emotional Sharath.
After receiving the award, he also reflected on the table tennis scene in Tamil Nadu, which now has a lot of youngsters. “The scene is good. We won a couple of medals in the National meet held recently. A doubles gold, bronze for Akash, silver for Akshay, and a team bronze, which is a good sign. There are a lot of bright prospects for Tamil Nadu as such. Among the youngsters, PB Abhinandh is a good player. He has been doing very well. For the first time, they have won a silver medal at the world championships. That’s a fantastic result. His world ranking has also been superb. A lot of younger players are also coming up,” he noted.
Ask him about his post-retirement life, and he calls it hectic. “I thought it would be more relaxed. But I’ve already started working on a lot of various aspects for Indian sports as an underbody to both the Indian Olympic Association and the International Table Tennis Federation. Apart from that, we have started SK Academy. So it is very tight like my playing days,” shared the Arjuna awardee.
Paramjit, too, was happy to get the award and was pleased that the organisers chose a person from golf for the honour.
Vijay Amritraj, who is basking in the glory of having received the Padma Bhushan this year, lauded Sharath and Paramjit for their contributions to table tennis and golf, respectively. He lauded Sharath for his contribution to table tennis and said a lighter vein that he was too young for a Life Time Achievement award. Vijay also shared with the audience that he is also an avid golf player and plays with some tennis legends on a regular basis. “When I meet up with Bjorn Borg (Sweden) and Jimmy Connors, we now play golf together. Connors likes playing golf with me because he’s very good. I beat him several times in tennis, so he likes to beat up on me in golf on a regular basis,” he quipped.
Rotary Club president Dr Pravin Tellakula, District Governor RI district 3233 D Devendran, and Dr Mohan Rajan were present on the occasion.