birmingham after 12 energysapping matches over three days sharath kamal needed a chair to complete the customary media interactions at the nec arenai have no energy left i am drained i feel like the orange is completely squeezed the juice is completely out but its been a fantastic two weeks he said not able to hold back a range of emotions he was feeling at the time after his first singles gold at cwg in 16 yearsindias finest ever table tennis player turned 40 last month and his body is nowhere close to what it was in 2006 when he won his first ever singles gold at the commonwealth gamesyet he found a way to better his past performances and end up with three gold and a silver in birmingham his dream run came after a challenging couple of weeks in which he was hardly able to sleep and backtoback matches across events made the task harderhe even woke up with a severe back ache on the morning of the mens singles final and could barely move he carried the pain into the game and after missing a regulation forehand due to stiffness he feared getting injured in the end he was able to get the best out of his battered bodysharath is often asked these days how does he do it at 40 he has become more lethal than ever with a much improved backhand complimenting his booming forehand driveseven the players here were asking me that how i am able to add a new stroke every time i play them i dont have a proper answer to that i can only say it is not easywhat i have been able to do at 40 is unbelievable in a very positive way i was asking myself after the mixed doubles gold yesterday how am i able to still play like this he wondered as bronze medallist and teammate g sathiyan stood alongside himthe singles gold was also his 13th medal across fives games alongside the olympics equalling the record held by olympic medallist feng tianwei who regained the womens singles gold she had to lost to manika batra four years agothese are probably my best ever games and probably the best ever two weeks of my life as far as table tennis is concerned i am 40 years old what more can i ask for said sharath who plans to play till the 2024 paris olympicsduring covid he mainly trained in chennai while the rest of teammates chose to travel overseas and play with clubs in europe he believes he found a way to improve his fitness during the pandemicthe covid break gave me a lot of insight on what i could do physically with the kind of routine we have had here i would have been dead already two days ago if it wasnt for the improved fitnesshis greatness is undisputed but probably has not been appreciated enough over the past two decades manika batra had pushed the