Who is Archana Kamath? Young paddler from coastal Karnataka making headlines in Paris

New Delhi: The comeback story of Archana Kamath is the stuff of legends. The 24-year-old table tennis player with roots in Konchadi, Mangaluru from coastal Karnataka had to fight back a mental block to make it to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

The talented paddler combined with Sreeja Akula to give India the lead in the women’s team event against Romania in the Round of 16.

Bad memories of the 2022 Commonwealth Games snub made the news of her Paris Games selection even more special. The Kamath household was in disbelief after hearing the good news. The reason for the scepticism was the heartbreaking snub of her daughter two years ago.

The Birmingham snub

Having been named in the squad for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games despite not meeting the selection criteria, Archana was axed via a Delhi High Court order which removed her from the team to make way for Maharashtra’s  Diya Chitale, who moved court over her exclusion.

After Diya replaced her in the squad, Kamath filed a petition with the Karnataka High Court challenging the decision, but it was dismissed and she missed the bus to Birmingham.

It came as a huge mental blow for the young paddler who, from being ranked as the fourth-best women’s doubles pair in the world alongside Manika Batra, was completely out of favour.

Road to comeback

With all hopes dashed, Kamath even contemplated quitting the sport but her family motivated her to not lose hope.

She took help from psychologist Shaantanu Kulkarni and got back to doing what she knew best. Archana immersed herself in training to put the disappointment behind her.

Fortunes smiled at her when she met Anshul Garg  – a former national medallist-turned-coach.

Mission Paris accomplished

Kamath, who knew Garg from her junior days, shifted to Noida in late 2022 to join his academy and the journey of an incredible comeback began 2000 km away from her home.

Besides the rigorous training, there was a conscious effort to play domestic tournaments to improve the domestic ranking, which was the reason behind her CWG snub.

She reigned supreme in the domestic circuit last season, clinching two of the last three national ranking tournaments in Vadodara and Panchkula, defeating Ayhika Mukherjee, who she eventually pipped with a higher rank to make the cut for the Paris Olympics and accomplish the much-awaited dream.

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 Archana Kamath: Incredible story of young Karnataka paddler who fought mental block to plot her comeback 2000 km away from her home.  Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today