by Simon Daish
Impressing from a young age Sathiyan Gnanasekaran was a member of the India team which achieved a bronze medal finish in the Junior Boys’ Team event at the Volkswagen 2011 World Junior Championships in Manama, Bahrain.
Showing a steady level of development in recent years Gnanasekaran became only the second ever Indian player to win a Men’s Singles title on the ITTF World Tour following a successful campaign at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Belgium Open where he beat local favourite Cedric Nuytinck in the final.
Reaching his personal best position of 102nd in the rankings table for June 2017, Gnanasekaran states that he is even more satisfied with his progress due to all of the hard work that he has put into his game.
“I’ve been working hard. For the last four years, ever since I finished my engineering, I have been working really hard. Everyone felt like it was a surprise, but hard work has been put in for years. I have reached my highest world ranking, so it’s a great feeling. Looking forward to breaking into the 80s and 70s now. Top-100 is almost there, so it’s not that motivating any longer. I am looking forward to breaking into 60s and 70s. Playing more World Tour events will be helpful for that. I just hope I can keep going in the same vein and keep working hard”, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.
Alongside his ITTF World Rankings ambitions Gnanasekaran also has his eyes set on one major upcoming event taking place in his home country, the inaugural edition of Ultimate Table Tennis.
Playing for Dabang Smashers T.T.C, Gnanasekaran is happy to see the formation of the six team competition and is hoping to come away from the action with a few big upsets to his name.
“Indian table tennis is already making a mark and a league like this will definitely help Indian table tennis players. I am hopeful that I can pull off some upsets. I have already beaten two of the overseas players who have been picked in the draft…
… It’s really special. We have always seen a league on table tennis. Being a part of the league in itself is exciting. It’s been in the pipeline for over a year, but finally it’s there. Quite excited. It’s a great platform. Playing against the top players in the world in my city, Chennai, it’s going to be great”, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.
Ultimate Table Tennis commences on Thursday 13th July and concludes on Sunday 30th July.
Source: Sportstar