In a moment of poetic symmetry, on the day 42-year-old legend Achanta Sharath Kamal bid farewell to international table tennis at the WTT Star Contender in Chennai, 24-year-old Manav Thakkar stepped up to carve his name into the history books. The youngster became the first Indian men’s player to reach the semifinals of a WTT Star Contender event, achieving the best-ever result by an Indian in any World Table Tennis tournament tier. And it was a stunning victory, too. Facing World No. 43 Lim Jonghoon in the quarterfinals, Manav found himself on the brink of elimination, trailing 1-2 in the match and 2-6 in the fourth game. What followed was nothing short of extraordinary. In a blistering turnaround, the Surat lad rattled off 18 straight points, clinching the fourth game 11-6 and storming to a jaw-dropping 9-0 lead in Game 5 before winning it 11-1. As Sharath bowed out earlier in the day, losing his Round of 16 match 0-3 (9-11, 8-11, 9-11) to 24-year-old Snehit Suravajjula — one of the many Indian paddlers who …