Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is an Indian Table Tennis player born on 8th January 1993. He hails from Chennai in Tamil Nadu. He represents India internationally in Table Tennis singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran - Early Life, Family & Background

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran was born into a middle-class family of elite academicians. His parents couldn’t afford to pay his school fees till 3rd standard, however, he managed to complete his school education. Also, he obtained an engineering seat in one of the engineering colleges in Chennai without paying a penny. Sathiyan lost his father to cancer in 2015.

Sathiyan took up an interest in Table Tennis as his hobby. His parents wanted him to pursue engineering and work in that field. Sathiyan’s table tennis talent was spotted by former Indian paddler Subramanian Raman and tempted to pursue the sport seriously rather than taking the engineering route. Sathiyan began to take up table tennis professionally and started training under Subramanian Raman. He received a scholarship from the Tamil Nadu Government which helped him to focus on Table Tennis.

Sathiyan Gnansekaran’s table tennis career gradually began to blossom. He had acquired an engineering degree in Information Technology from St. Joseph College of Engineering. He is currently employed with ONGC and being supported by GoSports Foundation

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran Biography

Sathiyan’s decision to switch his career from engineer to table tennis at the persuasion of his coach has probably been the best. After receiving training from Subramanian Raman, he began to compete at the junior state and national competitions. Sathiyan was performing well in the doubles and singles categories.

Sathiyan was successful at the junior-level but he found it difficult to get transitioned from junior to senior-level after he struggled to find the breakthrough in senior competitions. Coach Raman took him to Germany to provide him proper training. After returning from Germany, he competed and won medals in the senior state and national competitions.

In 2019, Sathiyan won the Bronze medal in Men’s Doubles at the ITTF Platinum in Australia, followed by another Bronze in Men’s Singles at the ITTF Challenge Plus in Muscat.

In February 2021, he became a National Champion in Men’s Singles at the National Table Tennis Championships by defeating 9-time Champion Sarath Kamal.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran Achievements

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran made his international debut for India at the 2011 World Junior Championships and won the Bronze medal with the Indian team.

In 2016, Sathiyan won his first Pro Tour title by clinching his first international Gold medal in Table Tennis singles at the ITTF Challenge in Belgium. A year later, he won the Bronze medal in Men’s Doubles at the ITTF Major in Sweden, followed by the Silver medal in the same category at the ITTF Major in Bulgaria.

At the 2017 ITTF Challenge, he won the second consecutive Gold medal in singles in Spain and therefore he became 1st Indian Table Tennis player to win two successive Pro Tour titles.

In April 2018, Sathiyan clinched the Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals in Men’s Team, Men’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles respectively in his debut Commonwealth Games held at Gold Coast in Australia. That very year, he made his Asian Games debut at Jakarta in Indonesia, where the Indian men’s team won the historic Bronze medal after a long gap of 60 years.

In 2019, he competed and reached the Quarterfinals of the Men’s Singles at the Asian TT Championships and became 1st Indian paddler to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament in the Men’s Singles category in 43 years. In that year, In November, he made his ITTF World Cup in China and reached the pre-quarters where he got defeated by Timo Boll.

In 2020, he won the Silver medal in Men’s Doubles at the ITTF Major in Hungary.

In March 2021, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran qualified for his debut Olympics at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics in Men’s Singles with two consecutive victories and topped the South Asia group at the Asian Olympics Qualification Tournament in Doha.