Achanta Sharath Kamal Withdraws from National Table Tennis Championships Due to Back Spasms

Achanta Sharath Kamal, the defending champion of the men’s singles event at the 84th UTT Inter-State Senior National Table Tennis Championships, has been forced to withdraw from the competition due to back and calf issues. The four-time Olympian for India has suffered from recurring back and calf spasms in the past two months, and he has decided to focus on rehab and prepare for the World Championships in Durban in May. Kamal’s absence provides an opportunity for former national champion G. Sathiyan to eye his second title. The top 16 seeded players in the men’s section and eight in the women’s category will get into action from Saturday when the second stage draw, the knockout, begins. The women will play three rounds, while the men will play two. The top-ranked players in both sections are: Men: G. Sathiyan, Manush Shah, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, Sanil Shetty, Anirban Ghosh, Sudhanshu Grover, Jeet Chandra, SFR Snehit, Soumyajit Ghosh, Anthony Amalraj, Ronit Bhanja, Payas Jain, Deepit R. Patil, Yashansh Malik and Subh Goel. Women: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Reeth Rishya, Diya Chitale, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Anusha Kutumbale, Swastika Ghosh and Prapti Sen.