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Star Indian paddler G Sathiyan has promised to show up with renewed vigor at the Tokyo Olympics, which get underway on July 23. It has been a tremendous year for Indian table tennis as the country prepares to send its representatives to Tokyo in five events for the first time in history.
World No. 37 G Sathiyan booked his maiden Olympic spot at the Asian Qualifiers in Doha in March when he defeated compatriot Achanta Sharath Kamal and Pakistan’s Rameez Muhammad in the men’s singles event. Sharath Kamal also made the cut owing to his highest continental ranking.
Among the women, Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee booked their Tokyo Olympics berths. India will also have its first-ever mixed doubles pair at the Olympics in Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra.
With less than 80 days to go before the Olympics, G Sathiyan is currently training alongside sparring partner Anirban Ghosh in Chennai.
“When you are at this level you can’t bring in anything completely different. From a broader perspective, I have been working on the variations. You will be seeing G Sathiyan with a lot of variations in different aspects of the game – strokes, receives and serves which will bring in a new flavour at the Tokyo Olympics,” G Sathiyan said during the virtual press conference facilitated by SAI.
With several impressive victories in the past few years and some stupendous performances in the foreign leagues, G Sathiyan has been quite a revelation for Indian table tennis.
Big events need top-notch preparation and G Sathiyan is leaving no stone unturned to be the best version of himself.
“I am focusing on things that are not my strengths like strokes that are powerful. I am also working on improving my serve, receive and variation in pace during rallies. I am working seven hours a day with my coach S. Raman with two hours of fitness under the supervision of Ramji Srinivasan,” G Sathiyan added.
G Sathiyan to train with a special table in Chennai
G Sathiyan revealed that he has requested SAI for the San-EI Absolute W Advanced table which will be used at the Tokyo Olympics. This table has never been used in any other competition, so it almost becomes a prerequisite for players' preparations.
“I am trying to get a table that will be used in the Tokyo Olympics and if things get better, it would definitely be one of the best and most intense preparations that I would be making heading for the Olympics. It will help me get used to the conditions and perform better,” Sathiyan said.
"Data analytics play a critical part" - G Sathiyan
Data analytics is one of the important aspects in today's sport. In that regard, G Sathiyan believes analytics plays a critical role in a paddler's playing style and approach, considering the fast-paced nature of the sport.
“It is something that is coming up new in our country. I should say, a lot of other countries are very much ahead on this. Data Analytics is a very, very critical part of table tennis and it is very helpful which tells us what to do when heading into a match,” he added.
“The matches are so fast and so swift that it gets very very difficult to go into the match and figure out. When you have all the opponents’ data, it helps you get a heads up start and that’s where analytics plays a critical part,” G Sathiyan concluded.
