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Sathiyan 2.0 looks to find his way back to the big leagues

ByShahid Judge
Jan 24, 2025 08:02 PM IST

The back injury he picked up after the Asian Games in 2023 hit him hard but he’s ready to shine again

Surat: There was a surprise omission as the two teams walked out to compete in the men’s team final of the 86th Senior National Championships in Surat on Wednesday.

G Sathiyan hopes to set aside his struggles with injuries and form. (HT)
G Sathiyan hopes to set aside his struggles with injuries and form. (HT)

The No.1 player on the men’s domestic rankings, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, was not playing for the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) team. A knee issue, he says, prompted him to sit out of the final.

“I was part of the team and I felt this would be good for the team,” he told HT, after PSPB beat the Railways 3-2 for the title. “I don’t want to be having doubts in my mind and go and play and not be able to give my best. If I’m not at my best, and something happens, then we’re losing on both sides (the final and an aggravated injury).”

For a player who has recently had his struggles with injury and form, the decision reflects a new mindset the 31-year-old has adopted about the way he approaches the game. He dubs it, “Sathiyan 2.0.”

Earlier, Sathiyan would be ready and willing to compete each and every time possible, be it in an individual event or for a team competition. But the back injury he picked up after the delayed Asian Games in 2023 started to affect his hips and knees, and eventually, his form. It was the first time in his career that he had suffered this severe an injury.

“The problem was that it was the 2024 Olympic qualification cycle and I had to push through it. If I decided to step out and recover, I was missing the Olympics for sure,” says the 31-year-old.

“Complete rest would have definitely made me get better, but I decided to have therapy while playing to try to make it more manageable.”

He did take some time off in November 2023 and returned for the Senior Nationals a month later, eventually losing in the final to Harmeet Desai.

“I was struggling quite a lot (in the 2023 Nationals). I was taped up and had to have a lot of painkillers,” he recalls.

He had finally recovered by March 2024, but the ranking had taken a beating. In 2019, Sathiyan had become the first Indian singles player to break into the top 25 world rankings. By early last year, he had fallen beyond the 100 mark.

His approach however, has changed. Instead of a constant focus on technical improvements, he is now paying keen attention to physical fitness and recovery.

“I never gave importance to recovery and instead just kept playing” says Sathiyan. “I thought sleep is good recovery, but I needed the proper sports science method – a pool session, a massage, lots of stretching. That was never my priority list as a youngster.”

At the same time, he has learnt how to handle the schedule better rather than compete at every possible event. That however, will not be easy.

“With the kind of the mandatory World Table Tennis (WTT) and Indian tournaments happening, the schedule has been pretty hard for all the athletes,” he says. “There’s no time for any breather. But I think we started to accept it. And I’ve now learned how to plan the schedule better. How to manage your body. Be aware of yourself.”

Return to the big leagues

Shortly after his return from injury, he went on to win a WTT Feeder event in Beirut, Lebanon. It was his fourth international title, but the paddler from Chennai considers it the one that came at the most opportune moment.

“It made me feel that ‘I’m back in the big leagues,’” says Sathiyan, who is currently ranked 72 in the world. “This was my comeback win and it came at the right time. It helped reassure me.”

It was his first real indication that he was on his way out of the slump. But this was not the first time he had hit a rough patch.

He recalls feeling “really low” after his father passed away 10 years ago. Just a month later though, in December 2015, he paired up with Ankita Das to become the first Indians to win the mixed doubles gold at the Commonwealth Championships. Incidentally, that title came at the Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Indoor Stadium in Surat, the venue of the ongoing nationals.

“I feel that whenever I’m in a slump, I always come out of it a better player,” he adds. “The losses and injuries teach you more than the winnings.”

He has had plenty of learnings over the past few years. Armed with that knowledge, he’s aiming to get back to the higher echelons of the sport – where he once was not long ago.

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Stay updated with the latest sports news, including latest headlines and updates from the Olympics 2024, where Indian athletes will compete for glory in Paris. Catch all the action from tennis Grand Slam tournaments, follow your favourite football teams and players with the latest match results, and get the latest on international hockey tournaments and series.
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