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Archana Kamath, who emerged as a star for the Indian women’s table tennis team at the Paris Olympics 2024, quit the sport. Kamath played a crucial role in guiding the side to the quarterfinals at the 2024 edition of the tournament. The 23-year-old paddler has opted to pursue her higher education abroad. Kamath was the only player to win a game in the Women’s Team Quarterfinals, where the Indians fell to Germany 1-3, bringing an end to their campaign in the French capital.
Kamath’s coach Anshul Garg revealed that Archana had a honest conversation with him about the prospects of winning a medal in the next games. Garg was quoted by The Indian Express as saying, "I told her that it's difficult. It's going to take a lot of hard work. She's ranked outside the top 100 in the world but she improved so much in the past couple of months. But I think she had already made up her mind to go. And once she makes up her mind, it's difficult to change it.”
Kamath’s selection in the Paris Olympics 2024 team garnered a lot of debate and discussion as she was selected over Ayhika Mukerjee, who had beaten World No.1 Sun Yingsha. However, the young paddler decided to block all the noise and solely focused on her work. Earlier, Kamath had told The Indian Express, “My brother works at NASA. He’s my idol and he too encourages me to study. So I make the time to complete all my studies and I enjoy it. I’m good at it too.”
Archana’s father revealed that she has no regrets about her career choices and said, “Having played table tennis with so much dedication and passion for more than 15 years which culminated in her representing our country at the Olympics, she felt it was time for her to pursue her other passion- full-time studies. She has taken this difficult step with absolutely no regrets and after having given her best for the sport and the country.”
