The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : ‘Sharath has a chance to come to the top 16’

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‘Sharath has a chance to come to the top 16’

KOCHI: Playing the Chinese in China could be a nightmare for any table tennis player. Life could be hell for the game’s stars at the Beijing Olympics this August.

So, how do we counter the all-conquering Chinese? What does Chennai’s Sharath Kamal need to do in Beijing?

“He must use European creativity to trouble the Chinese,” said the Indian national coach Aleksey Yefremov here on Tuesday evening. “The Chinese train hard, they have a lot of players too but Europeans bring more creativity to table tennis.”

“To beat the Chinese, Sharath must have something extraordinary,” said the 33-year-old from Belarus. “Not the standard strokes since the Chinese are very fast. He must go for different rotations, go for side spin often and attack the corners. And go for more risky balls.”

Only two Indians — Sharath Kamal and Delhi’s Neha Agarwal — have qualified for the Olympics. “Sharath has a chance to come to the top 16,” said Yefremov, the coach of the Belarus team at the last two Olympics. “If he gets into the top eight, it will be a miracle.”

Having played in Spain for a few years now, Sharath has an European style. “European mentality too, so it’s nice working with him. He’s very comfortable with me too,” said the coach who has worked in Croatia and Spain before coming to India. “He has a good style but he has to work on the variable backhand topspin and variable reception of serve. He has to use more power, turn more aggressive.”

European camp

Yefremov now plans to take the two Indians to Europe in July as part of the Olympics preparations. “I plan to take Sharath to Croatia where some of the best Europeans, including five-time Euro champion and a former world silver medallist Vladimir Samsonov, will be training.” — Principal Correspondent

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