National Games: Sharath Kamal forced to retire from quarterfinal with back injury

10-time national table-tennis champion Sharath Kamal withdrew from the 36th National Games with a lower back injury.
He was leading the quarterfinal match against Soumyajit Ghosh 7-11, 12-10, 11-8, 6-1.
After a horic Commonwealth Games outing in Birmingham where he won three gold and a silver, Sharath was the favourite coming into the National Games.

Sharath Kamal has withdrawn from the National Games with a back injury. He was leading the quarterfinals against Soumyajit Ghosh 2-1 and was up 6-1 in the fourth game. pic.twitter.com/u5w7n5jQHe
— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) September 23, 2022
“It’s not a serious injury. He had lower back spasms and with rest, should recover in 48 hours,” said his physio.
After the CWG, Sharath admitted that he hasn’t trained too much for the National Games. He had earlier also announced that he will not take part in the upcoming World TT table tennis team Championships which are going to be held in Chengdu, China from September 30.
In his absence, G Sathiyan will lead the team for the first time.