Sreeja Akula. Pics/AP; PTI

Record 13 medals

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Ironically, Sharath also equalled the record of 13 medals overall held by Feng Tianwei of Singapore, who won the women’s singles to set the target. Overall India won four gold, one silver and two bronze, including a women’s singles gold (Bhavina Patel) and one bronze (Sonalben Patel), both in para TT. Late on Sunday, Sharath and Sreeja Akula, playing her first CWG, gave India its first-ever CWG mixed doubles gold medal. They beat the fancied Malaysian pair of Javen Choong and Karen Lyne, who had beaten Sathiyan and Manika Batra earlier. Sharath-Sreeja beat Choong-Lyne 3-1. 

Also Read: CWG 2022 TT: Sharath Kamal clinches gold in men's singles

‘Best two weeks of my life’

The tall Sharath, ever smiling and candid, brought a chair with him to sit on when he came to meet the media. “I have no energy left. I am drained. I feel like the orange is completely squeezed, the juice is completely out, but it’s been a fantastic two weeks. The best two weeks of my life. You can’t ask for anything better than this, well, maybe, the men’s doubles gold [where he and Sathiyan had a silver], but I can’t be so greedy,” he said.

On how long he intends to keep playing, he laughed and said, “Give me time. I’m taking it one day at a time. Through these Games I focussed on recovery and that helped me play on. My body was not in the best shape, but that’s normal [now]. I played 12 games [matches] in three days back to back,” he added, smiling throughout.