India's Paris Olympics Star Archana Kamath, 24, Decides To Quit, Would Rather Study In US

India's women's table tennis team made history at the 2024 Paris Olympics, making it past the Round of 16 for the first time ever in the nation's history. India eventually lost the women's team battle to Germany in the quarter-finals, where Archana Kamath was the only paddler to have won a game. India eventually lost the match 1-3 and bowed out of the competition. Though reaching the quarter-finals was historic in India's table tennis history at the Olympic Games, Kamath wanted more. With there being no guarantee of a medal in the LA Games in 2028, the young paddler has decided to quit table tennis professionally and instead study abroad.

After returning home from the Paris Games, Kamath had an honest conversation with her coach Anshul Garg about the prospects of earning a medal in the next games. The coach, understandably stunned by Archana's stance, decided to give an honest response

"I told her that it's difficult. It's going to take a lot of hard work. She's ranked outside the top 100 in the world but she improved so much in the past couple of months. But I think she had already made up her mind to go. And once she makes up her mind, it's difficult to change it," Garg told The Indian Express.

Archana's selection for the Paris Olympics was a chatter of debate before the start of the quadrennial event, especially after she got the nod over Ayhika Mukherjee, who had beaten World No. 1 Sun Yingsha earlier.

Keeping aside the chatter around her selection, Archana focused on the game and did really well in helping India won the only match against the Germans in the 1-3 quarter-final loss. Archana has the backing of TOPs, Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), and other sponsors, but that isn't enough. An Olympic medal is what drove her,