Sharath Kamal Retires: Can Manav Thakkar Lead the Future of Indian Table Tennis?

For a better part of Achanta Sharath Kamal’s two-decade-long career, everyone else who became India’s top-ranked male table tennis player at any point had an invisible asterisk in front of their names.

Sharath’s ability to perform well at major events and the magnitude of his achievements —15 medals across the Asian and Commonwealth Games — made him the de facto India No. 1.

No Indian paddler has matched Sharath’s longevity. Trained by his father, A. Srinivasa Rao, and uncle, A. Muralidhara Rao, he broke into the national team in the early 2000s, competing alongside veterans like S. Raman, Chetan Baboor, and Arup Basak. He then battled rivals from his own generation—Subhajit Saha, Soumyadeep Roy, Sourav Chakraborty, and Anthony Amalraj—many of whom have since turned to coaching.

Even as the next wave arrived — Soumyajit Ghosh, Sanil Shetty, G. Sathiyan, and Harmeet Desai — Sharath remained the benchmark. In 2018-19, he surpassed Kamlesh Mehta’s record of eight National titles, defeating Sathiyan, 10 years his junior, in the final. He repeated the feat in 2021-22, securing his 10th title — an achievement unlikely to be matched anytime soon.

The 6’1” powerhouse, who carried Indian table tennis on his broad shoulders, retired at 42 after a round-of-16 loss at the WTT Star Contender event in his hometown Chennai on March 29. His departure inevitably raised the question: Who after Sharath?

Champions at WTT Star Contender Chennai

Sathiyan seemed the obvious answer. Ranked as high as 24 in the ITTF rankings in 2019 — India’s best-ever for a male paddler — he followed in the footsteps of fellow Chennaite Sharath, collecting seven Commonwealth and Asian Games medals. But the expected “passing of the torch” never materialised. Sathiyan, now outside the Top 100, watched as Sharath remained India’s top player even in his fifth Olympic appearance in Paris last year.

A few hours after Sharath’s farewell, a bespectacled, lean, 5’10” paddler staked his claim to be India’s next big hope. His name is Manav Thakkar.

Ranked 63rd, Thakkar had struggled at the senior level, with WTT Contender quarterfinals in Nigeria and Argentina as his best results. In Chennai, he seemed headed for another exit at the same stage, trailing World No. 43 Lim Jong-hoon. Then came a stunning turnaround — he won 20 of the next 21 points to seal a 3-2 victory, becoming the first Indian man to reach a WTT Star Contender semifinal, a feat only Sharath has bettered with his 2024 Singapore Smash quarterfinal run. He also defeated World No. 35 Finn Luu.

Unlike Sharath’s power-driven game, Thakkar thrives on counter-attacks. His Chennai performance highlighted newfound mental toughness. “In 2022-23, I lost many deciding-game matches. My mental coach, Gayatri Vartak, advised me to slow down, focus on serve and receive, and not overthink,” he said. “Sometimes, if I felt nervous, I’d pause to adjust my shoelaces, just to refocus.”

After his semifinal loss to unseeded Frenchman Thibault Poret, Thakkar was back at the practice tables with coaches Chris Pfeiffer and Massimo Costantini. “My touch was off. I placed and timed the ball well, but my speed and spin need work,” he admitted.

A former World No.1 in Under-21 (2020), Thakkar struggled for consistency at the senior level. Training under Pfeiffer at Sharath’s academy in Chennai and competing in the French league with Top 10 stars Felix and Alexis Lebrun, he has become more proactive. “Earlier, he played safe. Now, he attacks more,” Pfeiffer noted.

His Chennai success propelled him to a career-high World No. 47. Still chasing his first National Championship, his breakthrough at home signals a turning point. The next big test? Breaking into Grand Smashes and WTT Champions.

Meanwhile, another Indian, wildcard Snehit Suravajjula, made waves in Chennai. He stunned Japan’s World No. 29 Yukiya Uda 3-2 after saving three match points. Then, in a mentor-vs-protégé clash, he defeated Sharath 3-0, denying the veteran a fairytale ending. Snehit lost 1-3 to Poret in the quarterfinals but achieved a career-best World No. 89 ranking.

Other Indian contenders had mixed results. Reigning national champion Manush Shah (World No. 73) and Paris Olympian Harmeet (World No. 68) exited in the round of 32. Sathiyan (World No. 105) fell in the first round.

There were 28 Indians in the men’s singles qualifying draw. Out of them, Divyansh Srivastava, Payas Jain and Anirban Ghosh managed to clinch three of the eight spots available in the main draw.

“With Sathiyan and Harmeet as seniors, and young talents like Manav, Manush, Snehit, Payas, and Ankur (Bhattacharjee) coming up, I’m confident Indian table tennis is in safe hands,” said Sharath after his final match.

In 2026, India will have two big team competitions at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals and the Asian Games. A lot will depend on the consistency of the doubles pair of Manav and Manush, the only Indian duo in the Top 10, as well as the development of the current batch of singles to do well at these events. A podium finish (India won a historic first-ever bronze in 2018 but lost in the quarterfinals in 2023), in the absence of someone as experienced as Sharath, will take something extraordinary.

The upcoming World Cup (From April 14-20 in Macao, China) and World Championships  (From May 17-25 in Doha) will provide a clearer picture of Indian table tennis in the post-Sharath era.