Born on 1st May, 1960 in Mumbai, Kamlesh Mehta is a retired Indian Table Tennis player. The eight time winner of the Senior National title got acquainted with table tennis at an early age but it was only for recreational purposes. A liver ailment made him take a break from the sport and it was only in 1974 that he took up the game again. During his decades long career he has received numerous accolades. In 1979, he received Maharashtra Government’s Shiv Chhatrapati Award. He received ‘The Friendship Trophy’ for being the best Indian player at the Asian Championship in Islamabad. He was conferred the Arjuna Award in 1985. He is also the first Indian to receive the Fair Play Trophy at the Commonwealth Championships in 1989. He has been named the Best Sportsman twice by the Sports Journalists' Association of Bombay. Talking about his personal life, his wife Monalisa Baruah is also a former table tennis player from Assam.

International Career: Highlights

• In 1983, he won all 4 gold medals at the Pentangular International Championships and six years later in 1989, he won the World Bank Championship.
• In 1985, he was a part of the team that finished 12th at the World Championship.
• One of his most notable performances was at the 1991 SAF Games where he won 7 gold and 4 silver medals.
• He has won 4 silver and bronze medals each at the Commonwealth Championships.
• In his career, he has represented India in 7 World Championships, 8 Asian Championships, 2 Asian Games, 6 Commonwealth Championships, 4 South Asian Federation Games and 2 Olympic Games.
• He was the highest ranked Indian player in Asian, Commonwealth and the World Rankings.
• He was also the captain of the Indian team from 1982 to 1989.

In 1998, he was offered the position of National Coach for the Indian Team. He has coached the Indian table tennis team on multiple occasions including the Osaka Asian Games. Later, he even assisted the Chief coach Massimo Constantini at the 2010 Asian Games. In March 2017, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports appointed him as the national observer for table tennis.