Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Lessons learnt in Tokyo, G Sathiyan sets sights on Paris Olympics 2024

Tokyo 2020 was to be Gnanasekaran Sathiyan's first Olympics, yet there was a different sort of a buzz around his upcoming campaign, and for good reasons. The Chennai paddler in 2019 had become the first Indian to break into the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) top-25 rankings.

Sathiyan was world number 170 at the time of the 2016 Rio Olympics, but in Tokyo, he entered the competition as the 26th seed and with a world ranking of 38. Rapid strides were made in the last few years and now he was at the grandest of the stages. Sports, however, has this uncanny ability to be a great leveller. Sometimes it doesn't matter how good you are, you have to be good on that particular day.

In his first match at the Games, in the second round, Sathiyan took a commanding 3-1 lead over then world number 95 Siu Hang Lam, only for the Hong Kong paddler to turn the tables on the Indian with a 4-3 win. Crushing as it was, Sathiyan isn't one to brood for long.

He has since won an ITTF men's singles title, a world tour mixed doubles title and a world tour men's doubles title. At the 2021 Asian Championships, he won bronze in the men's doubles event with the legendary Sharath Kamal and was also part of the men's team that bagged bronze.

The wins are back and the star paddler now has his eyes firmly fixed on the 2024 Paris Olympics.

"The bigger goal is definitely Paris 2024," Sathiyan tells Firstpost. "Immediately after Tokyo 2020, we set our target at Paris 2024. Tokyo 2020 taught me a lot and I put those lessons directly into my game and you can see that there has been a lot of improvement, especially in mentally how I approach a big tournament. Now I know what it feels like to play an Olympics and I am sure the exposure will help me when I go to Paris."

The 29-year-old has also signed up with top-tier French Pro A league club Jura Morez Tennis de Table for the 2022-23 season to acclimatise to the conditions and hopes that his French sojourn will give him the "much-needed" practice ahead of the 2024 Games. In the latest ITTF world rankings, Sathiyan and his mixed doubles partner Manika Batra have risen to their career-best world number six spot and the Chennai athlete says mixed doubles is going to be their main focus in the coming time.

"We will be focussing a lot on mixed doubles and there's a good chance to get that elusive medal in the mixed doubles. When you are world number six in the world, it's about how you play on that day. It is also important to work out strategies on respective pairs and we have been training together to do so," Sathiyan says.

But before the Olympics, there are other major tournaments that will serve as a barometer for Sathiyan and Indian players' progress besides providing them the perfect ground to hone their skills. While the Asian Games which were to be held in China this year have been postponed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be extra focus on the 2022 Commonwealth Games which will be held in England from 28 July. India, in their best-ever show at the Games, won a total of eight medals at the 2018 CWG including three gold. Sathiyan won the men's doubles silver, mixed doubles bronze and the men's team gold. Sathiyan is "confident" India can repeat their heroics but his biggest focus is on winning a medal in the singles.

"To win a medal in singles in Commonwealth Games has been a long-time target for me," the Chennai man says. "Last time I lost in the quarter-finals. I don't want just a medal but to go straight to the finals. It's not going to be easy. There are some tough players there — Aruna Quadri and Liam Pitchford, those who are in the top 20 in the world. There will be stiff competition but we are preparing hard and we have made our strategies."

Sathiyan is currently sweating it out at the Raman TT High Performance Center in Chennai under the guidance of his coach S Raman to prepare for the upcoming challenges. Quick on his feet, Sathiyan's focus is on building more power into his game which has not been his forte.

"On the game side, we are working more on receiving the service and returns. That is where I really need to step up to face the top players. I play a lot of rallies, so we are working on my initial few shots and power that I want to impart on the strokes, to have more power in the game. The focus is also on fitness because we have time to push harder to improve the strength quotient ahead of the CWG," he says.

Sathiyan is also spending some time with former Indian cricket team strength and conditioning coach Ramji Srinivasan to improve his strength and fitness. Another new dimension to his training is the addition of the Swedish sparring partner Simon Alexander Berglund who is currently in Chennai.

"I wanted a young left-hander who can push us and make the practice more efficient. I have not practiced a lot lately with left-handers but in the international arena, we have a lot of left-handers. So he will help that way, and also it will help in doubles. Most countries have lefty-righty combinations," says Sathiyan explaining the decision.

The paddler will be training in Chennai till the end of May before joining the national camp. He is scheduled to play in a WTT Contender event in Zagreb and a Grand Smash event in Budapest in the coming months before the CWG. It will just be the start of a busy calendar for Sathiyan as he hopes to play as much as possible before Paris 2024. Let's go!

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