2002: Early Breakthrough The national call-up finally came on the eve of the
2002 Commonwealth Games, where he was selected for a 16-member probables training camp. It was the break Sharath Kamal needed to launch his career at the age of 20. Although he was not selected for main squad the experience at the camp gave him confidence and the exposure to top-level players made him better. Sharath Kamal made it to the final of the senior national championships in 2002 and though he lost, he was soon drafted into the national team.
2003: World Championships Debut Sharath was selected for
2003 World Table Tennis Championships alongside
Chetan Baboor and Sourav Chakraborty. This was his first
world championships appearance and his first major tournament. He defeated Tahiti's Sylvain Motahu 11–3, 11–3, 11–4, 11–7 in the first group stage match. This was his first world championships win. He also won men's doubles first round match with
Chetan Baboor defeating Santoago Coste and Hector Berrios of Puerto Rico 9–11, 11–7, 11–6, 11–4. But lost mixed doubles first round match with Pradeera Thiruuengadam to Indika Silva and Deepika Rodrigo of Sri Lanka 11–8, 10–12, 8–11, 11–9, 8–11. He then scored a straight-games win over Lithuania's Arturas Orlovas, winning 11–4, 11–4, 13–11, 12–10 to qualify for main draw. He made a promising start against 57th ranked
Christophe Legout of France as he won the opening game 11–2. But the Frenchman overcame the early hiccups to take the next four games 11–6, 11–6, 15–13, 11–6 comfortably to win the match 4–1 and end Sharath's campaign.
2004: Olympics, South Asian Games Debut and Commonwealth Championships Gold Sharath was selected for
2004 World Team Table Tennis Championships. India played in second division of the championship. In the first match against Slovenia he defeated S Ignjatovic 3–2(4–11 12–10 11–9 6–11 11–8) as India opened their account by defeating Slovenia 3–2. India lost their next match against Slovakia. In the next match against Portugal he easily won his match against
João Monteiro in straight games 4–0(13–11, 11–7, 11–7) as India comfortably won the match 3–0. He defeated
El-sayed Lashin 3–2(10–12, 3–11, 11–8, 15–13, 11–8) and S Diaa by 3–2(7–11, 11–9, 9–11, 11–8, 11–6) as India won the match by same margin against Egypt in last group stage match. Sharath Kamal was selected to represent India at
2004 South Asian Games. This was his
South Asian Games debut. He won the team event gold as India thrashed Pakistan in the gold medal match 3–0. He opened his team's account by defeating Farjad Saif Khan in straight games after that his compatriots
Subhajit Saha and Soumyadeep Roy completed the formalities to win the gold medal. He won the mixed doubles gold medal partnering Vishaka Vijay defeating compatriots Roy and
Mantu Ghosh in the gold medal match 3–1(8–11, 11–7, 11–9, 11–10) in an all India final. He and Roy reached men's doubles final by defeating Sri Lankan duo Thilina Laknath and Indika Prasad 3–1(11–4, 11–4, 9–11, 11–7) in semi-finals. They defeated compatriots
Subhajit Saha and Ranbir Das in an all Indian final. Sharath was denied a fourth gold in singles. He reached singles final by defeating Rajendra Kapali of Nepal and Piyadasa Thilina Laknath of Sri Lanka both in straight games. But lost to compatriot Soumyadeep Roy in the final. He lost the first game 11–9 but came back by winning next two games 11–9,11–7. Roy won the fourth game 11–6 and he won the fifth game 11–9 but Roy came back from behind winning next two games 11–5,11–4 to win the gold medal. Sharath's first international singles gold medal came at the 2004
Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships where he won men's singles gold. He also won men's team event where his team defeated England 3–1 in the final. He qualified for
2004 Olympics which gave a new high in his career graph. At his Olympics debut he defeated
Mohamed Sofiane Boudjadja of
Algeria in first round in straight games but bowed out in second round losing to
Ko Lai Chak of
Hong Kong in straight games.
2005 Kamal competed at
2005 World Table Tennis Championships but lost to top seed and eventual world champion
Wang Liqin in first round 4–1 but managed to take the third game 11–9. In the mixed doubles, he and
Mamta Prabhu got a walkover from
Bode Abiodun and
Atisi Owoh of Nigeria in the first round. In the second, they were defeated by the Singaporean pair of
Xiao Li Cai and
Jia Wei Li.
2006: Commonwealth Games, South Asiad Golds and Asian Games Sharath made his
Commonwealth Games debut at
2006 Commonwealth Games. He was the top seed in singles which gave him a bye to directly round of 32. He swept Jason Sugrue in first round but dropped one game against
Andrew Rushton and two games against
Cai Xiaoli in next matches but still managed to win. He defeated
Segun Toriola in straight games in semi-finals to reach the final. He won the gold medal by defeating
William Henzell of Australia in the gold medal match 4–3 in a thrilling 40 minutes match. He became first Indian to win table tennis gold at commonwealth games. He also won the gold the medal in men's team event where his team defeated
Singapore in the final 3–2. He lost his first match against
Cai Xiaoli which reduced India 0–2 in the gold medal. But team India came back as
Subhajit Saha won his match and Sharath won his second match against
Yang Zi which levelled things at 2–2. Soumyadeep Roy sealed the match by winning his match against
Cai Xiaoli. This was Indian team's first ever commonwealth gold. He partnered Soumyadeep Roy for men's doubles but lost in the quarter-finals to
Andrew Baggaley and
Andrew Rushton 3–2(8–11,12–10,7–11,11–6 and 4–11). In December, Sharath made his
Asian Games debut at
2006 Asian Games. He was 13th seed, received bye to Round of 32. He beat
Đoàn Kiến Quốc of
Vietnam 11–6,11–7,13–15,11–5,11–9 in round of 32. In doubles,Sharath bowed out in the pre-quarters losing to
Chiang Peng-lung 5–11,5–11,8–11,4–11. He was ousted in round of 32 losing 9–11,9–11,9–11 losing to Vietnamese pair where he paired with Soumyadeep Roy. In the team event, He won two matches and lost two matches. Eventually, his team finished third in the group unable to advance any further.
2007 In the year 2007 he was the first Indian to win the Pyongyang Invitational Tournament held at Pyongyang, North Korea. This was the 21st edition of the tournament which was held in August 2007. His best performance on the world circuit came in the Japan Pro Tour held in June 2007 where he beat World No.19, Lee Jung Woo (South Korea). In the
world Championships, Sharath once again had a first round exit like his last appearance losing to seed no. 28 Polish
Lucjan Błaszczyk 8–11,6–11,9–11,9–11. In the doubles event, he paired with Soumyadeep Roy and went on to beat Austrian pair of
Stefan Fegerl and
Werner Schlager 11–4,6–11,9–11,11–9,11–8. This was his first ever match win in world Championships, But lost in the second round to Serbian pair of
Aleksandar Karakašević and
Slobodan Grujić 12–10,11–5,11–6,11–3. In the mixed doubles event, he paired up with
Poulomi Ghatak but lost in the first round to
Xu Xin and
Guo Yan 9–11,13–11,5–11,4–11 and 6–11.
2008 Sharath qualified for
2008 Olympics. He beat
Alfredo Carneros of
Spain in first round 4–2. But lost to
Chen Weixing of
Austria 1–4.
2009 2010: 1st Pro Tour Title, Commonwealth Gold and Doubles Specialization with Subhajit Saha and Pro Tour Grand Finals 2013: World Cup 2018: Commonwealth and Asiad Success 2019: Best Career Ranking and Commonwealth Championships Golds 2020: 2nd Career Title Sharath won the 2020 ITTF Challenger Plus Oman Open men's singles title. He outclassed top seeded
Marcos Freitas of
Portugal 6–11, 11–8, 12–10, 11–9, 3–11, 17–15 in a 1 hour long final. This was his 1st title in 10 years.
2021: Olympics 3rd Round and Asian Championships Bronzes In March 2021, Sharath played at WTT Star Contender Doha, where he upset
Patrick Franziska in the round of 32. But lost to
Dimitrij Ovtcharov in next round in straight games 3–0.
2022 He competed at the 1st ever
wtt grand smash, the Singapore Smash 2022. He had a 1st round exit in singles after losing to
Anton Källberg whereas in doubles he paired up
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran but lost to
Lim Jong-hoon and
Jang Woo-jin 0–3. He bagged a bronze at WTT Contender Doha 2022. Kamal faced upcoming Chinese Star Yuan Licen in the semi-finals which became a 1 hour long hard fought match which he eventually lost 4–3 (5–11,11–8,6–11,11–7,11–5,10–12 and 9–11). On the day of his 40th birthday Kamal defeated Enzo Angles and
Vitor Ishiy to qualify for the main draw of WTT Star Contender European Series. He then defeated
Lubomir Pistej in straight games in first round but lost to 7th seed and world no.8
Darko Jorgic in straight games in next round. 40-year-old Sharath Kamal won his 4th medal at the [Commonwealth Games] in
Birmingham when he defeated
Liam Pitchford of England to win Gold in the Men's Singles table tennis category. Also, Sharath Kamal won Silver in Men's Doubles partnering with
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran & another Gold in Mixed Doubles category with
Sreeja Akula in
Birmingham 2022. Earlier he won Gold in Men's Team in this sports meet with
Harmeet Desai,
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran &
Sanil Shetty at .
2023 In July 2023, Sharath Kamal's team
Chennai Lions came second in
Ultimate Table Tennis season 4. In August 2023, Sharath Kamal ranking dropped to world rank 106, this is the first time since 2007 that Kamal has gone out of top 100 World Rankings.
2024; Paris 2024 Olympics On 8 July 2024, the
Indian Olympic Committee designated to him and the professional
badminton player
P.V. Sindhu as the flag bearers to the
París 2024 Olympic Games. Unfortunately, he had a shock first round exit in the Men's singles Round of 64 against Deni Kozul of Slovenia. == Club career ==