For the coming week, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium of Chennai will be the center of attention for Indian table tennis fans. Not only because the WTT -star Medging Chennai 2025 who starts on Tuesday, containing top players from all over the world, but also because it marks the Swansong of Achanta Sharath Kamal.
Sharath has been the torchier of Indian table tennis for more than two decades. With five Olympic Games -performances and 13 Commonwealth Games -Medailles to his name, he had a great career.
To give you an idea of how phenomenal that return is, here is a small illustration from that 13 CWG medals, 7 are gold. If Sharath was a country, he would be the 23rd on an all time.
Perhaps it is only appropriate that the veteran can say goodbye to the sport in his hometown. He will compete in Singles for men and in double of men, together with Snehit Suravajula.
Which other Indian players participate in?
All Toppeddelaars of India will compete on the WTT star 2025. The list of the participants contains heavyweights such as Sreeja Akula, Manika Batra, Hardet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran as well as young rising stars such as Ankur Bhattacharjee, Yashaswini Ghorade and Diya.
The duo of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah are sown number 1 for the competition of the gentlemen double. Both will also compete in the Singles for men and mixed Doubles where Takkar will be collaborated by Batra and Shah will have Chitale by his side.
Asian competitions medal winners Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee are expected to lead India's industry in double of women.
Mudit Dani will collaborate with Kim Taehyun from Malta for the men's doubles.
The competition will contain various other younger Indian players.
Who are some of the international stars to pay attention?
Japanese paddlers are expected to dominate the headlines. Hina Hayata, Miwa Harimoto and Satsuki Odo are the top three seeds in the ladies' singles respectively.
In the meantime, Tomokazo Harimoto number 1 in the men's singles is becoming. Hugo Calderano van Brazil and the Omar Assar van Egypt are other players to keep an eye on. The tournament will also contain the Spain's Alvaro Robles and Nigeria's Quadri Aruna, who participated in Utt season 5, which was played at the same location six months ago.
Where to watch WTT Star -Medging Chennai 2025?
In India, the tournament can be viewed live on Sonyliv and on the YouTube channel of the World Table Tennis. There is no TV broadcast for the same.