Table Tennis: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran all set to turn up for Okayama Rivets in Japanese League


Table Tennis: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran all set to turn up for Okayama Rivets in Japanese League

G Sathiyan

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

Indian table tennis star Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is all set to feature in the top division of the Japanese Table Tennis League. He will turn up for Okayama Rivets.

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Sathiyan has been one of India’s ace players in table tennis for the last five years. He first came into limelight when he was a part of the team that won the Junior World Championships in 2011. Since then, Sathiyan has shown remarkable progress and evolved into a hot prospect.

His best ranking was 24th in the world which he achieved during May, 2019. He has now dropped 8 ranking and is ranked 32nd in the world.

‘I will be the underdog in Japan’ – Sathiyan

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

In the Japanese league, Sathiyan will play eight matches for his team. The first match will begin on December 10 and the tournament will conclude on December 30. Speaking about his participation in the league, “I am very excited. All the top paddlers from Japan and Korea will play. I will be the underdog and if I can pull off some big upsets, it will be really great,” Sathiyan told The Hindu.

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In an earlier interview with Firstpost, Sathiyan had stated that he had trained and improved a lot during the lockdown. “The last two months have been very productive as a player. We made use of the lockdown time pretty well. I’m feeling like a much improved player, or a different player after working on specific skills. Probably that would help me get into the next level: Top 20,” he had said.

Also Read: Ultimate Table Tennis postponed to 2021