Exclusive: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran redeems himself with Tokyo Olympic qualification after eye-opener before Rio

New Delhi, March 21: India's Sathiyan Gnansekaran became the second male paddler after Achanta Sharath Kamal to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics after he thrashed Muhammad Rameez of Pakistan 4-0 in the Asian Olympic Qualification tournament in Doha.

The 28-year-old table tennis star from Chennai missed the ticket to Rio Olympics but has worked hard in the last five years to climb up the ladder and establish himself. He's currently placed at the 32nd spot in the world rankings and the Arjuna Awardee athlete has done all the hard yards to make it to the quadrennial event - which is a dream for every athlete to represent his/her country.

Talking to MyKhel over the phone from Doha, Sathiyan expressed his delight after taking the first step towards realising his dream of winning an Olympic medal. The Commonwealth Games 2018 gold-medallist (in men's doubles and mixed doubles categories), termed it as one of the best moments of his life.

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"It's one of the best moments of my life and a priceless one I should say because it has been my childhood dream to participate in the Olympics and it was a dream come true moment," said Sathiyan.

The paddler - who was part of the bronze medal-winning Indian side in the 2011 Junior World Championships - also acknowledged the contribution of his family and coach for their encouragement and unconditional support in his journey so far.

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"I would like to thank my parents, my family and coach for their unconditional support and encouragement which has made it possible. Definitely, a lot of struggle I've been through in the last few years and missing out on the 2016 Rio Olympics was an eye-opener, from there on, I took on the challenge and decided to put my best foot forward and I gave it all in the last few years. I had a lot of struggles and made a lot of sacrifices and it finally paid off and it is definitely a very special moment of my life," star paddler said.

Sathiyan, who attained his career-best world ranking of 24 in 2019, became the first Indian paddler ever to break into the World Top-25 in ITTF rankings.

Talking about his plans in the coming months and how is he going to prepare for his maiden Olympic games, Sathiyan said, "After this, it's going to a very crucial period for me because there are still strict COVID protocols in place and it's very difficult to assess what exactly we are going to do. So, as of now I shall rest a little bit and rehab my shoulders and then I'll be going to Polland on April 1st to play some leagues for a couple of weeks. I have some league commitments where I'll get to play some league and play-offs matches and I hope to take my confidence there and win some matches there."

Sathiyan also conceded that the second wave of COVID-19 and the protocols put in place by the administration in the coming days has once again put a question mark on training but the Tamil Nadu table tennis star will begin training at home in Chennai before leaving for Poland in the month-end to participate in some leagues in the European nation.

"So a couple of weeks in Poland, but after I return, the plan is not sure. We are looking at options either going to Asia for training or bring a sparring partner to India. That is also a good option for training, so we are looking at the other options and how the visa and everything else is going to work. So training in Chennai, with home food and my coach with a foreign sparring partner will be an amazing idea. It will be amazing if it works out."

Sathiyan wants the next three months to be productive ones for it will help in doing well in Japan at the biggest stage.

"I hope to use the next three months in productive ways as I will work on my fitness and mental fitness as well. Just like I made my debut in Commonwealth and Asian Games a memorable one, I really want this debut Olympic games to count and win the first-ever Olympic medal for India in table tennis," he added further.