Indian table tennis earned the world's respect in a watershed 2018 when the country won a historic two medals at the Asian Games after Manika Batra's unprecedented showing at the Commonwealth Games. Sharath Kamal, arguably India's finest player who is still going strong at 36, summed up the year aptly.
"The Sharath-led men's team exceeded its own expectations by winning a Bronze at the Asian Games in Jakarta after stunning the mighty Japan in the quarterfinals.
His younger teammate G Sathiyan delivered under pressure by winning both his singles against higher-ranked opponents. The dream run did not end there as Sharath and Manika landed a mixed doubles Bronze which has given them the belief that they are good enough to win an Olympic medal.
To put the achievement in perspective, it was the first time that India returned home with an Asian Games medal ever since table tennis was introduced in the mega event's program in 1958.
While the sport took giant strides, a star too was born with Manika pocketing as many as four medals including two historic Gold medals in women's team and women's singles at CWG.
She beat the then world number four and Olympic medallist, Feng Tianwei of Singapore, twice to step on the top of the podium.