India at CWG 2022: Aggressive and stronger G Sathiyan aims for singles glory-Sports News , Firstpost

G Sathiyan won three medals at Commonwealth Games 2018 but missed out on a singles medal. AFP

Indian table tennis stars are back at the event that propelled the sport to new heights in India in 2018. India’s unprecedented eight-medal win at 2018 Commonwealth Games followed by the historic two bronze medals at the Asian Games thrust the sport to the forefront of public consciousness in India.

Since then, the Indian paddlers have been extending the frontiers. Veteran Sharath Kamal and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan broke into the top-30 of the world rankings for the first time with the latter even entering the top-25 group. Sathiyan and Manika Batra are currently world number 6 in mixed doubles while Batra and Archana Kamath are world number four in women’s doubles.

In many ways, CWG 2018 acted as the springboard that tossed Indian table tennis on this steep trajectory. In Australia, in 2018, India won the gold in women’s and men’s team events. The top prize in women’s singles, bronze in men’s singles, silver in women’s and men’s doubles, bronze in mixed and men’s doubles.

The challenge for the Indian team this year will be to repeat the 2018 heroics, but for Sathiyan, the leading Indian player on the international circuit, the goal is even bigger. He wants to help India do better by securing what he missed out on last time — a singles medal.

Sathyan lost in the quarter-finals last time as Sharath went on to win the bronze. In 2022, Sathiyan has a singles medal on the top of his to-do list.

“A singles medal is my primary goal,” Sathiyan tells Firstpost. “I won medals in the other three events last time. I would like to, of course, change the colour of the medal in the other events. But singles gold medal will be my bigger goal.”

With the singles gold medal as his target, Sathiyan has been working hard for the past few months to be able to play his best table tennis at the CWG. He has been giving his all in the training at the Raman TT High Performance Center in Chennai with coach Subramaniam Raman. Sathiyan had also invited a Swedish sparring partner to practice playing against left-handers. Another major area of focus was building body strength, for which he worked with former Indian cricket team strength and conditioning coach Ramji Srinivasan.

Eye on singles

For the singles medal, Sathiyan will be up against the world number 12 Aruna Quadri and number 19 Liam Pitchford. World number 35 Sathiyan knows the challenge is big but he is confident his hard work will pay off.

“It’s going to be tough. The competition is very intense with England, Nigeria and Singapore. It’s going to be hard, but I think I have prepared really well. And I’m really confident that I could bring home my first ever singles medal in Commonwealth Games,” the 29-year-old says.

“I worked a lot on my fitness with Ram Ji sir for the Games and on variation in my play after the Olympics. I have worked a lot with my coach Raman sir on serving and receiving. My serve and receive have improved, so has the power in my strokes and my more aggressive playstyle will be the key heading into the CWG.”

Sathiyan got to use his newfound strength and improved skills in the WTT Contender event in Zagreb in June where he stunned world number 6 and reigning European champion Jorgic Darko, in the round of 32.

The highlights of Sathiyan’s game were his aggressive play and willingness to look for attacking points rather than indulging in longer rallies. It was an indication of Sathiyan walking on the right path and the ace paddler is hungry for more.

“Having a win against Darko in a world event is certainly a big thing and it has given me a lot of confidence, especially before Games. It also gave me the positive sign that I am going in the right direction and that my aggressive game is really working very well. I will look to continue in the same direction and get better results in the future,” Sathiyan shares.

The mental battle

But good game and skills are not always enough for success, mental fortitude and the ability to handle pressure are often the difference between winning and losing in sports. The 2018 Games were Sathiyan’s first CWG. He was still getting a taste of the big events. He reckons he is a different player now, especially after the 2020 Olympics experience where he lost to a lower-ranked player in his very first match despite being billed as the favourite.

The Chennai athlete says he will look to translate those learnings into action to fulfill his quest for medals at CWG.

“Post Olympics I had a lot of learning, especially on how to handle pressure, how to play a pressure game and of course, I had to improve on my fitness and game. Had to bring in more variations in my game. I have applied the learnings in my game against Darko that I won. Had some good wins in Budapest recently. It has been coming well. I will look to apply everything I have learnt after the Olympics in the commonwealth Games and I hope I can get really good results,” he signs off.

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