2022 Table Tennis World Team Championships: New maturity allows G. Sathiyan to aim higher, stay in the present

After the World Team Championships, Gnanasekaran Sathiyan will play league table tennis in Paris - the venue for the next Olympic Games. (Image via Twitter/@sathiyantt)

The 2022 ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) World Team Championships finals in Chengdu, China, from 30 September present Gnanasekaran Sathiyan with his latest challenge. Leading the Indian men’s table tennis contingent, Sathiyan will aim to finish in the top 16 of the competition, which would be hard in the absence of the country’s other main player, Sharath Kamal.

That’s just one of Sathiyan’s short- and long-term goals coming near the end of an eventful year. He got three medals in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games (CWG) last month, a gold in the team competition, a silver in doubles and a bronze in singles. Earlier in the year, he defeated Darko Jorgic, then ranked No. 6, in Zagreb, a big win over a top-10 player, before eventually losing in the quarter-finals.

“Having a top-10 win is always special. He is one of the best in Europe. Those wins make you believe you belong in that league. When you beat a top 10 player, you believe you can be in the top 10 too. That’s kicking in,” Sathiyan says, on the sidelines of an event organised recently in Mumbai by not-for-profit GoSports Foundation, which supports athletes like him.

Some of his recent success is owed to a change of approach, to be more aggressive, go for the shots and not wait for the opponent to make mistakes. “When you try to make the move and have that kind of a win (over Darko), you know you are going in the right direction. For me winning a big match before the CWG was good,” he says.

The 29-year-old, currently ranked 37 in the world, has matured as a player by his own admission. He understands now how to control his emotions better. He refers to the bronze medal match at the CWG as an example. Leading 3-0 over England’s Paul Drinkhall, Sathiyan lost the next three games for the scores to be level at 3-3.

“Sathiyan a few years ago, having this kind of lead, would have just lost the match there,” he says. “(But now) I could win over myself. I have learnt to handle pressure. I never used to take chances, but I am now going for the shots. I have learnt that. Experience has made me more mature and calm but aggressive on court.”

Sathiyan won the seventh game 11-9 to win the contest 4-3 and pocket the bronze medal in the process.

He says this approach of his is an ongoing process. The agenda is to stay in the present, he says. “3-0 up and you start to think about the bronze medal. When you are losing, you start thinking about what would happen if you lose. The main thing objective is to stay on the point.”

The Chennai resident has worked with a mental conditioning coach to treat wins and losses equally, though he admits it’s easier said than done. “With experience, you know where to step up, play aggressive, where to stay in the game, not to show your body language… It’s customised player to player. It’s professionally worked upon in training sessions and tested in different scenarios.”

Some change in attitude also came during the pandemic, over the course of two years in 2020-21 when athletes lost precious training and playing time. “One thing I have learnt,” Sathiyan says, “is nothing is guaranteed in life. I always calculated things—I am an engineer—I like numbers, knowing what would be the end result. But I have let that off. No one thought the pandemic would come and we can’t calculate too much. We have to stay in the present and not think of what will happen next.”

He aimed at improving on his physical abilities during the off-season leading up to the World Team Championships. But his long-term goal is to break into the top 20 rankings, perhaps even the top 10, and win a medal in the 2023 Asian Games besides the 2024 Paris Olympics.

With experience, he has learnt to accept reality, work physically to maintain the body with advancing age. “You cannot be as fast as you were at 18. I used to play 8-9 hours when I was 18. Now I have cut down two hours but know how to make it effective. It’s a trial-error method when you are young. So now, you train hard but train smart. That you learn with age.”

He takes the example of Sharath, who at 40 won a Commonwealth Games gold medal in singles. “He has cracked the code of how to train smart. With 20 years’ experience, you know how your body will respond. It’s about exploring yourself. I have understood the body to a large extent. The more you understand what food will suit you, for example, will help prolong your career and give best results.”

After the World Team Championships, Sathiyan will play league table tennis in France. Besides using one of the sport’s best leagues to improve as a player, it will help him get familiar with Paris, the venue for the next Olympic Games. He also intends to train in Germany.

He feels India needs to host world-level tournaments consistently, make it a destination for the table tennis world. A national training centre, where the world’s top players could come, would allow for better exchange of expertise. “We need better sparring. There are always players from France going to Germany, to Russia, etc. You need to have this kind of collaboration, mixed training camps, more tournaments, and a right mix of going abroad and playing here.”

As an athlete, Sathiyan says, he tries to focus on what he can control and not on external factors. “I will encourage juniors to do their part and opportunities will come knocking.”