by Simon Daish
Many high-profile competitors participated in the tournament with Marcos Freitas, Quadri Aruna and Wu Yang just a few of the star names on show and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran was delighted to meet some of the best players the sport has to offer.
“We’re normally not very close to the top 20 players and we’ve always seen them as big players. We never got an opportunity to talk to them or get to know them and the UTT provided a great opportunity for that”, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is one of India’s fastest improving players and is only the second representative from India to have won a Men’s Singles title on the ITTF World Tour.
More evidence of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran’s impressive skills set was seen in The Ultimate Table Tennis League where the Indian player registered a fantastic victory over the World number eight Wong Chun Ting, and Gnanasekaran has credited his recent success down to confidence in his attacking game.
“An aggressive mindset is the way forward. I grew up focusing on consistency alone but now I’m playing with quality and consistency. My coach ensured that I went for my shots and I’m now doing the same and taking a lot more calculated risks. After the aggressive mindset came about, I felt like everything just fell into place. Playing aggressively has really helped me to perform better”, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.
Following an impressive display at the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Australian Open where he secured a Round of 16 finish in the Men’s Singles competition, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has risen 20 positions up the ITTF World Rankings table to 90th and now the Indian star has his eyes firmly set on breaking into the top 60.
“The foreign players at the UTT felt the level of table tennis in India has definitely risen. We hope to keep up to the mark and become one of the strongest nations in the sport. We can definitely make it to the top 5 in the world. To reach the top 100 was a dream a few years ago, but now my goal is to reach the top 60. Similarly, an Olympic medal is still a dream, but I think it will become a goal soon”, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.
Source: Sportstar