CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Association (TNTTA) felicitated Achanta Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan, who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, national champions in various categories and para national champions. The event was presided over by VR Muthu, Chairman of the VVS & Sons, Edible Oils Ltd.
National champions Suresh Raj Preyesh, M Hansini, M Nikkhil Menon, Vijay Guru Sanjith (bronze medalist) and para national champions Raj Aravind, Baby Sahana were honoured. DV Sundar, former secretary of TNTTA and honorary vice-president FIDE, lauded Sharath and Sathiyan for making Olympics cut. He congratulated all the medal winners at the nationals and pointed out the hard work that went behind their achievements. He also lauded the coaches for bringing out the best from the players.
Sharath Kamal was pleased with the gesture of TNTTA. “It was a thoughtful gesture by the TNTTA to honour all the medal winners at the nationals. I think this is the first time that we have so many medal winners in a single nationals. Credit to all the players for their hard work,” said Sharath. Sharath revealed that he will be training in Chennai for a while before trying to get back to Germany.
“At the moment I will train in Chennai. Because of the relapse of the Covid, it will be difficult to go abroad and train. Plus, there are no tournaments at the moment. From the month of May, I will try my best to train outside the country to get better exposure before the Olympics.” AV Vidyasagar, secretary of TNTTA, praised Sharath and Sathiyan for qualifying for the Olympics. He also expressed great pride in the performance of the youngsters at the nationals. Noted coaches Srinivasa Rao, Murlidhara Rao, S Raman were present at the function.