Chennai Lions captain Sharath Kamal said the team balance was the main reason for it to pick up the Ultimate Table Tennis crown. He credited Germany’s Petrissa Solja for playing a major role.
“This season we had a fantastic team. The main factor [for the win] was Petrissa. She has already qualified for [Tokyo] Olympics in the European Games in both the team and mixed doubles. This is Tiago [Apolonia]’s third season and he knows how it works,” said Sharath.
On the importance of Petrissa and himself for Lions, Sharath said they had to contribute nine points in every tie.
“Me and Petty [Petrissa] had nine points in every tie together. She had three singles and three mixed doubles while I played the same number of matches.
“Petty was in fantastic form and she went on to win the best player of the tournament award,” said the Commonwealth Games champion.
Lions started off on a wrong note losing to U Mumba TT, but slowly picked steam.
Motivating win
The semifinal victory over Goa Challengers, which Sharath said was the team to beat, gave Lions the required motivation in the final.
“For us, the best team was Goa that had Cheng-I-Ching, women’s world No.9, India’s A. Amalraj and Archana Kamath, both were in fine form, and the foreign player Alvaro Robles [Spain].
“We were trailing 1-5 but fought back to level at 6-6. And Madhurika [Patkar] won a tough final match against Archana. We came back from the jaws of defeat and that helped us be strong in the final,” said the 37-year-old.
Playing against the defending champion Dabang Delhi in the final was always going to be tough, but what made things easy for Lions was Tiago’s fabulous display against India’s No.1 player G. Sathiyan, where the former beat the Indian 3-0.
“Tiago was in great shape. His win over Sathiyan gave us the momentum. Dabang is a one-man army [Sathiyan]. Once we took Sathiyan out, we were very confident,” said Sharath.
Ok for new format
Sharath gave a thumbs-up to the new UTT format. “I am really happy with the format. It is very short, compact and very intense.
“There were lots of emotions and expressions, which were captured well on television.
“That we could finish each tie in around two hours was encouraging. I think this year, UTT found its mojo. It was a packed stadium in the final.
“From here, it will only go upwards. The viewership has gone up, the production values were top-class. So many moments were captured well on television, which increased people’s interest in the sport.”
The next major assignment for the Indian table tennis teams (men & women) will be next year, where it will be participating in the World team qualification championship in Gondomor, Portugal from January 22 to 26.
Sharath believes that the team has a fair chance to make it to Tokyo.
“If we qualify as a team, then the top two places are guaranteed in singles. That makes a lot of things easier for all of us. We’ll have enough time to prepare for Tokyo,” he said.
