'Seasoned' Sharath, Tarundeep look ahead to Tokyo 2021 now

NEW DELHI: "I'm at an age where even water becomes fat," Sharath Kamal laughs over the phone. He's 37, going on 38 and sitting at his home in Chennai, Sharath is accepting this strange time with a mix of calm resignation and quiet optimism.
Tarundeep Rai is equally Zen about this. At 36, the veteran archer is banking on trusted muscle memory whenever he will be able to string his bow and take aim at a target that's been pushed back by at least 12 months.
Tarundeep and Sharath would be two of possible four Tokyo-bound Indian athletes who will be 37 or more next year.The other two are aberrations in their own right. Women's boxer Mary Kom will be 38 next year, Leander Paes a young 47 and we know picking themselves up is no issue. But starting over for regular, everyday pros with advancing age, what does that entail? Because, like the song reminds you, the sun is the same but you're older and yes, definitely shorter of breath.
"The main thing is that it's the Olympics," says Sharath on finding motivation, "The idea itself, is so big. Even if I'm playing the last 16 or the quarterfinals, you are in it for just that. Doesn't matter if it's one year or four years, that's what keeps me going."
Tarundeep agrees. "What do you do? If you've reached this far, you have to go on come what may. You find maintaining the training routine gets tougher as you grow older. You gave sweat all these years, maybe you may have to give blood now, but there's no going back," he tells TOI from Pune.
What extra would these 37-year-old veterans need to do to remain in reckoning? "There are still many top archers in the world around my age or more," Tarundeep points out, "Age in archery does show up in training. You have long sessions all day, standing in one position, trying to find the target which is basically just a dot in the distance, it does take a toll on me now. That's where the difference between a younger person and me would count," he says.
"With the postponement, essentially you'll have to repeat the same routine all over again, starting from scratch. Only now, it's harder, a more demanding routine because you're getting a year older, and thus, the younger archer has trained better," he laughs.
Sharath takes the question to the TT table. "I don't think age matters so much. It's just the timing of your form, I'd guess. Everyone's talking of my age, but the truth also is that I'm playing my best table tennis now. Five years ago, it (a cancellation) would not have mattered or perhaps mattered less, because I wasn't in the same shape and form. Also, I wouldn't have gained in experience as I have now. Physically I may be slower than about five years ago, but I am in my best shape too currently," he says.
Tarundeep too talks of a sweet spot. "One good thing with age is muscle memory. Any slight twitch of any muscle, and you hit off the centre. It's a sport of such fine margins – everyone's shooting 10s these days. In a tournament, an archer shoots a maximum of 150 arrows if he's reached the finals. In training, we shoot no less than 500-600 arrows. That's how muscle memory is built. I have been doing this since I was 10 years -- all these years of just taking aim and shooting, the muscles know.
But both agree, the pushback would force an extra effort to be in top form come 2021. "Yes, it does have a setback mentally. You trained for a year keeping a specific target in mind, for the Olympics and suddenly it's not happening," says Tarundeep.
"After the Asian Games in 2018, one slowly began preparing for Tokyo 2020. By Nov 2019, I had figured how my body works, how my mind works, I need at least two months to start the peaking process and continue the graph. But now the April qualifiers are not happening. The Olympics itself is not happening. So I'll have to start the process all over again, now," he adds.
Sharath knows he needs to be slower at the dinner table now in order to be faster at the table tennis table if and when things resume. "In a lockdown period, it's very difficult to keep your discipline," he says but is aware of the overall aim. "I'd hope to live past 60 at least. I don't want to live with a regret all my life that I didn't give it my best shot. Hey, I'm only 38," he says.
Cooped up in his ASI quarters in Pune, Tarundeep is happy to dream beyond. "I'm looking at an October resumption in the qualifying programme. The original idea was to go to Tokyo, try for a medal and retire myself. Over two decades of staying away, the kids want me home now. I'll have to tell them to wait another year now," laughs the Sikkimese.