Two CWG singles golds 16 years apart an out of this world feeling; future of Indian TT in the right hands, says Sharath Kamal

Commonwealth Games (CWG), Sharath Kamal had categorically mentioned "I am playing my best table tennis at 40." By the time he returned home a fortnight later, Sharath had turned those words into an astonishing three gold medals and a silver, and the haul included the coveted men's singles triumph -- a feat he incredibly last achieved on his CWG debut, way back in 2006. Sharath recently spoke to TimesofIndia.com about this and more.

To become the country's most successful athlete at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in what was his fifth appearance at the Games is an achievement built purely on resilience and process. And the fact that his younger teammates accompanied him on the podium -- for the men's team gold, men's doubles silver (with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran) and the mixed doubles gold (with Sreeja Akula), speaks volumes about how Sharath not only lifted his own game but also played a key role in helping others rise with him.

How he keeps doing it year after year, while continually raising the bar, is something Sharath himself can answer best, and he did that in a manner as precise as his forehand in this interview with TimesofIndia.com.Two CWG singles gold medals 16 years apart, not many can do it...It really is an out-of-this-world feeling. Doing it 16 years apart is a humongous task.

But if you look at my graph, I have always been there. It's not like that the other times I lost in the first rounds or the second rounds.

Of course, I played the (CWG singles) final again (after 16 years), and I haven't had a singles final in recent times, but I have been around. This time, I was not sure if I would win a gold medal; but there was a chance that I could do it because the players above me are the players I had beaten (in the