NEWS
Composed, calm, focused, determined – add as many adjectives as you want to describe this man. This paddler recently became the first Indian to enter Top 25 of the Table Tennis Rankings and is the country’s No.1 Table Tennis player. Yes, you guessed it right! This is none other than Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.
Within every winner, there exists a beginner who once faced hurdles and hardships. However, with sheer grit, persistence and promise, one can easily conquer those tough times. The story of G Sathiyan holds true to this quintessence. It’s an inspirational tale of how he overcame the hurdles that were pulling him back with determination and valour.
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Sathiyan Gnanasekaran |
| Age | 26 |
| Sport Category | Table Tennis |
| Date of Birth | January 8, 1993 |
| Hometown | Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
| Height | 5'5" |
| Coach | S Raman |
| Ranking | 24 (as of 1st May, 2019) |
| Teams Played for | India, Tamil Nadu, Dabang Smashers TTC (Ultimate tennis league-India), Angby club (Sweden), TSGKaiserslautern (Germany) and Zooleszcz Gwiazda Bydgoszcz (Poland). |
Born into a middle-class family in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, the G Sathiyan took a liking to the sport of Table Tennis at a very young age. He was captivated by speed and spin, two essential gears, which came naturally to him. Rising slowly and steadily through junior ranks, he wanted to make a career in the sport. However, his parents wanted him to pursue a safer route of engineering. And humbly obliging to his parents wishes, Sathiyan went on to graduate from the St Joseph College of Engineering, Chennai with a degree in Information Technology.
It was just an accident. His father Gnanasekaran was working out of the country. TT coaching center had started close to their house at that time. His mother Malarkodi took him along as at the age of five. At that time his first coach V Chandrashekar and Ashok Kumar convinced Sathiyan’s mother to put him in the sport when he was not even the height of the table.
Balancing studies and the game was tough for him. As a result, it started affecting his game and while transitioning from junior to senior level, his career hit a hill. In 2012, his performance fell and negative thoughts sneaked in. However, later that year, three moments of absolute serendipity gave a boost to his career.
If not for these three, Sathiyan would, most probably, have been a Techie or doing MS abroad and India would have been robbed of one of its most gifted paddlers ever.
The ‘engineer’ of Sathiyan’s incredible feat is his coach S Raman, a former Olympian and National Champion from India. Sathiyan once said, “Raman and I are a great combo because we both love being challenged every day and we work together wonderfully to overcome those challenges. It’s been four years that I have been training under him and he has completely transformed my game!” Adding a strong attack from both flanks to his already existing daunting defense, Sathiyan has arisen as a versatile player.
He further revealed how Raman gives him ‘pointers’ before every match. Raman also takes off the pressure of performance from G Sathiyan ’s mind. “He tells me not to worry about the result and that he will take the responsibility if I lose. I just need to focus on the task at hand and not bother being answerable to people back home”
G Sathiyan at UTTL 2017
Following the trend of launching profitable sporting tournaments, table tennis too taken the plunge and set up Ultimate Table Tennis in 2017. Sathiyan was auctioned by Dabbang Smashers and proved one of the finest performers in the season. In 2018’s season Sathiyan was retained by the franchise and was appointed as a captain to lead Dabbang Smashers along with paddlers like Manika Batra, Yoshida Masaki, Sakuna Mori, Archana Kamath, and Sanish Ambekar.
Sathiyan’s rise through the ranks has been a rapid one; the paddler has immensely worked his way from being outside top 100 in the ITTF rankings to become the first Indian to make it to top 25 in the rankings.
From being an unknown name in the table tennis to a crucial member of the Indian squad to an Arjuna awardee to the highest ranked Indian player in the world, Sathiyan has raced fast, changing insights en route. The left-hander champ has a good chance of improving his position in the ranking system.
In the upcoming months he will be seen in action in seven Pro Tours, Ultimate Table Tennis League and the Commonwealth Championships before the World Cup, which will be held in Chengdu, China from October 18 to 20. The paddler is an inspiration for many sports fanatics in the country who want to excel in sports but also are not willing to give up on studies! To sum up, this man is a combination of strategic hard work and mental tenacity.
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