Exclusive! Lockdown Days: Table Tennis star Sathiyan savouring time at home, sparring with a robot to remain in form

New Delhi, April 23: The ongoing lockdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the entire world and brought every nation to a grinding halt. India is also one of the worst-hit countries with this outbreak and making every possible effort to prevent the spread of this disease.

All the sporting events have been badly affected by the lockdown and the athletes all over the world are spending days in self-confinement. While some have nothing or very little means to practice on their game and resorting to keeping themselves physically and mentally fit, then there are a few who are fortunate enough that they are still getting to improve their game apart from doing what everyone else is doing.

India's star table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is amongst the lucky few who have the luxury of practising on his game at home and improve it at the time of lockdown. The Chennai-born paddler is sparring with the help of an Amicus Prime Robot to improve some specific areas of his game.

In a conversation with MyKhel, the 27-year-old revealed how he's working on his game and also why the lockdown is a blessing in disguise for him for it allowed him to spend a lot of time with his mother.

Here are the excerpts:

MyKhel: What all have you been doing during the lockdown?

Sathiyan Gnansekaran: Everyone is having a tough time so I am just trying to make the best use of this occasion. I am working on my fitness routine in the morning with my fitness trainer Ramji Srinivasan via video calls. He's put up a fitness schedule for me with whatever pieces of equipment like hurdles, thera bands, small weights, etc. I have at home. Fitness is something we can develop at this point. Also, I do my yoga practice in the evening followed by a couple of hours of training with the robot, which, luckily, I have at home.

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Besides, I am also watching my old videos and preparing a log for the top-50 players and how to play against them while discussing with my coach. Also, I am having fun at home by spending time with my mom and this lockdown is a blessing in disguise for athletes like us who spend a lot of time away from home. I am also helping my mom with gardening and watching a movie with her during lunch. So we are spending quality time together.

MK: Yes, tell us about this robot with which you are training. How is it helping you? Which aspect of your game is it helping you improve?

SG: Yeah, I imported this advanced robot in November last year from Germany at the advice of my coach Mr Subramaniam Raman (who himself was an Indian paddler). This robot is no less than a boon for me during this lockdown period as it has become my sparring partner. So, I practice for a couple of hours daily with the robot.

Of course, a human opponent is always better than a machine because a person can access the situation by looking at you and react accordingly. So if you look in that aspect, then definitely a robot cannot match. But with this robot, I can set it to different modes to challenge me. I can set it to a random mode where it throws four balls at a different speed, spin and trajectory. It can throw around 120 balls per minute. The advantages of this robot are that it can help me improve speed, reflexes and techniques.

It is also helping me perfect the small skills like 'banana flick' or half-long ball, so it is helping me fine-tune specific skills. Unfortunately, I don't have a big space to move but I am making use of it in the best way possible. It is the skill part that I am focussing at, rather than movements.

MK: How would you rate your journey in the past couple of years as you have been doing consistently well at the international stage? What were the positives and negatives for you?

SG: Fantastic I would say, my career has taken an upward curve since 2017, and 2019 was the best year of my career so far. Although, my ranking had been stable all through 2019, but defeating top players has been the highlight for me. I did considerably well in the World Championships and Asian Championships last year.

I made it to the quarterfinals of the Asian Championships in the singles category and became the first Indian after 43 years to do so after beating world number 5 Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan.

In the quarterfinals as well I gave a tough fight to World No. 4 Lin Gaoyuan of China. Even in the World Cup, I defeated higher-ranked players and such wins give you the belief that you belong there and things will improve further. So, I think it was a good year for me as I played brilliantly against the best in the world.

Even in the UTT, I played well and was adjudged the best male player and the most valuable player of the tournament. The German league was also fantastic.

I would say, the only disappointment for me was that we failed to seal the Olympic berth in the team category. So 2020 started on a slightly disappointing note but we (Sathiyan and A Sharath Kamal) came back strongly and clinched a silver in Hungary Open.

MK: What do you think went wrong with us at the Olympic team qualification event? Was it a lack of experience or something else?

SG: I think it was a completely different scenario where we were the favourites for the first time. It is such a big growth for Indian table tennis as a whole. We never had such a tournament in the past, where there is just one tournament for the teams to qualify for the Olympics. It was the first such instance where ITTF decided that teams will get the Olympic cut from just one tournament.

Probably we were thinking too much about the tournament and the format and I think that got into our heads as it was a do or die situation and it cost us. Barring Sharath, both I and Harmeet (Desai) were slightly inexperienced. Even for Sharath, it (the format) was something he had never experienced in the past. But at the same time, we also need to give credit to our opponents Slovakia as they played better than us on the given day.

But in singles, both me and Sharath definitely have the chance to make the Olympic cut.

MK: How disappointed are you with the tournaments getting postponed or cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic?

SG: It is disappointing but the entire world has come to a grinding halt due to that but that's how it is. We would have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics by April in the single's category had things been normal. Given the rankings, all we needed was to compete in the qualification tournament, let alone win it. If I continue to play the way I am, then I think I have a chance in the Tokyo Olympics.

MK: Sharath last month told MyKhel that he was peaking just at the right time but with the Olympics getting postponed he'll have to slow things down and strategise accordingly. Will that be a case with you as well?

SG: Yes, it's not going to be easy but we'll just have to rework on our plans and strategy. If you've seen my career then I am someone who has made comebacks strongly within a gap of a month or two after going down. I don't take too long to revive because (my) basics are strong. I continuously discuss with my coach Raman sir regularly and he guides me to make the required adjustments. You'll normally do badly if you are under pressure or physically drained. So we'll have to take care of the schedule and that's going to be hard.

I feel more than coming to a peak will probably be much easier if I am already doing my visualisation technique. Therefore, my focus is on keeping myself mentally connected to the sport. So that when I come to the table, I get the feeling that I have played a lot of rallies in my mind, even if I have not played too much physically.

The difficult part would be that the physical load might go up because they'll bombard you with a lot of tournaments when things return to normalcy. The ITTF will be forced to organise the tournaments frequently and understandably so, and this is where we'll have to be cautious and not get us physically drained.

MK: How do you work on you keeping yourself mentally fit?

SG: I have the mental strength and conditioning coach and constantly discuss with him on ways to keep myself mentally strong. I have always tried to focus on the stroke rather than looking at the stature or ranking of my opponent. If you are focussing on the stroke and not bothered about the person in front of you then you have better chances of doing well and not getting intimidated by his reputation. Of course, it is easier said than done, but that's what I am focussing at.