Rising star Archana Kamath striving for further success

For young Archana G Kamath, the last couple of months have gone in a blur. It all started with an impressive quarterfinal finish at the WTT Star Contender Doha 2021 in September. The 21-year-old followed it up with a maiden women’s doubles title at the WTT Contender Lasko combining with Manika Batra in November and then went on to reach the doubles quarterfinals with the Commonwealth Games champion in the World Table Tennis Championships in December. All that has lead to Archana now reaching a career-high doubles ranking of 10. Follow Live updates on InsideSport.IN

Archana Kamath: Young paddler striving for success, learning from Manika Batra to improve further

But the humble paddler refuses to get carried away with the rise in her ranking and instead wants to focus on improving further keeping in mind the upcoming challenges.

“It’s definitely nice to see and it’s very encouraging. Having said that, the focus has never been on rankings but on trying to get better and better. Doing the best I can has always been the goal,” Archana told InsideSport from Germany, where she was taking part in a WTT Feeder event.

While playing with India’s top female paddler Manika, Archana says her goal is to absorb little details like a sponge and try and inculcate certain aspects into her game. That she feels is one of the biggest advantages of having such an experienced professional by her side.

“Playing doubles with Manika Di is something that I enjoy a lot. We are teammates at Indian Oil too. She is a great player and a confident person and being around her, I get to learn a lot. She has a very strong presence on the table which allows me to play freely and I’m really looking forward to playing more with her.”

Archana Kamath: Young paddler striving for success, learning from Manika Batra to improve further

Archana has been playing both formats — singles and doubles but is more comfortable in singles. But with chances of medalling more in doubles events, she is aware of the need to keep at it in both formats.

“Playing and training for doubles competitions is very different from singles. The focus is always on how to improve oneself in singles while many times, to be successful in doubles format, one has to play in a way that benefits your partner’s game style as well. I’m aware there is a long way to go and for me personally, it’s a work in progress,” Archana commented.

COVID-19 meant tournaments got cancelled and the lack of competitive action meant a steep fall in rankings. But the Bengaluru paddler did not let the virus affect her outlook towards the sport and her singles ranking has seen a major boost over the course of the year, climbing up from 347 at the end of last year to 135 currently.

“The goal is to improve and get better at my game. And not think too far ahead and take one match at a time and give my best.”

Archana Kamath: Young paddler striving for success, learning from Manika Batra to improve further

For Archana, the next competition is South Zone National Ranking Tournament at Pondicherry with ITTF yet to release the international calendar for next year. She is also a part of Bundesliga 1st Division club TTG Bingen Münster/Sarmsheim.

“Having good support from OGQ, TOPS,TTFI and Indian Oil, I look forwards to training well, improving further and doing much better in the future,” Archana signed off.

Table tennis