Table Tennis News: Sharath Kamal conferred with Padma Shree

Professional table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal, Veteran cricketer Gautam Gambhir, Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri and World Championship silver medallist wrestler Bajrang Punia were among the recipients for the Padma Shri awards announced on the eve of the Republic Day. Sharath is the second Indian table tennis player to win 9 times national championships. Sharath won the men's singles gold in the 16th Commonwealth table tennis championship held at Kuala Lumpur in 2004. He also won the gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, beating crowd favourite Australian William Henzell in the final, apart from helping the Indian team clinch gold in the table tennis team event against Singapore. He teamed up with Subhajit Sahato win the Men's Doubles gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.