Eyeing Asian Games, Olympic medal with Manika Batra in mixed doubles table tennis: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

New Delhi, February 5: India's star paddlers Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra achieved career-best mixed doubles rankings recently when they jumped to eleventh in the latest ITTF rankings. The duo created history last year when they defeated Hungary's Nandor Ecseki and Dora Madarasz 3-1 to become the first Indian table tennis players to win a WTT Contender title in August.

The performance in Budapest last year has given the duo a lot of confidence and the rise in ITTF rankings is a major shot in the arms. Buoyed with the rapid strides he has made with Manika in mixed doubles, Sathiyan looks to keep the partnership going and even aims to win medals at Asian Games and a good performance in Asiad will push them to eye an Olympic medal in the same category.

In an exclusive conversation with Mykhel, the Chennai-based paddler spoke at length about his performance last year and also unveiled his plans for 2022.

Here are the excerpts:

Mykhel: How would you rate your performance in 2021?

Sathiyan: It was a year full of lots of ups and downs. The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic which affected a lot of people was a major learning curve for me, off the table. Things went off gear due to the delta wave but that also changed my perspective towards life in general.

On the professional front, it was overall a good year as I started by winning the national championship which was long overdue. In the Tokyo Olympics, I did reasonably well but I could have converted better and it was definitely a big disappointment.

But I had a fresh start after that and went back on the drawing board with my coach Raman sir, and started working on the subtle changes and focussed on the areas that needed improvement. I didn't take much of a break and worked hard on the small details.

I myself was completely surprised with the quick comeback as I ended up winning back-to-back titles in the second half of the year. There were a lot of firsts as I won a mixed-doubles title with Manika (Batra) in Budapest, a men's doubles title with Harmeet (Desai), and my third ITTF title, followed by my first ever Asian Championships singles medal.

So, despite the ups and downs and given the situations we all went through, I would consider 2021 as the best years of my life, professionally.

MK: Your mixed-doubles pair with Manika Batra achieved a career-best 11th spot in the latest ITTF rankings. What are your thoughts?

Sathiyan: Extremely happy with the new world rankings. It's been a great journey and we were pleasantly surprised to have started really well in the international circuit. It's been only a few months but our ranking has increased exponentially. Certainly, we were looking forward to breaking into the top and putting ourselves in a great position to play the CWG, Asian Games and of course, the bigger target i.e. Paris 2022.

So we'll be looking forward to training together and preparing as hard as we can so that we can compete with the best mixed doubles paddlers in the world. The ranking has certainly come as a major confidence booster for us in 2022. Hopefully, we can continue the good run. As we have a few big tournaments lined up in March 2022, we are looking forward to putting up a brilliant show and keep up the good work.

MK: Tell us about your mixed double's partnership with Manika Batra. You guys won a medal at the WTT Contender title in Budapest. Did you expect to win a medal there?

Sathiyan: We exceeded our expectations for sure. We went there to play well, we wanted to give ourselves some time and get into the grooves. The last time we played a mixed doubles game together was back in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. But the way we started combining was a big factor in our success because we did well as a pair despite teaming up after a gap of three years. As we've travelled a lot together and observed each other's game keenly so the understanding has been quite high and that worked in our favour.

Manika's on-court tactics are really high as she can gauge her opponent's strength and weakness very well and which is also one of my strengths. So that is why we could gel up very fast and the surprise element also worked in our favour. Certainly, the way forward is going to be harder for us because opponents will now come better prepared against us.

MK: How difficult will it be for you to juggle between singles and mixed doubles format? Are you planning to take this association with Manika for a longer-term?

Sathiyan: Certainly, mixed doubles is a big event and we are definitely going to give a lot of importance to it from now on because there we have a genuine chance of winning medals in the Asian Games and even in the Olympics. Winning a singles medal is a tad tough due to the stiff competition. But with the right exposure and training, I believe we could be in the medal contention at Asian Games and Olympics in the mixed doubles event. So, we are going to give it a lot of importance. We are setting our sights at Paris Olympics.

Yes, switching between two events is going to be mentally and physically taxing but we need to prepare ourselves and share the workload well. If we plan wisely our international calendar well in advance then there won't be much of a problem adjusting between singles and mixed doubles. I'll try keeping myself physically fit.

Doubles in table tennis bring different challenges. Unlike tennis or badminton, here is a very peculiar rule (in table tennis) where one partner has to compulsorily play the next ball. So we are going to train together and prepare well because I strongly believe that we can clinch that elusive Olympic medal in mixed-doubles table tennis if things go according to plan.

MK: What are the plans and how are you preparing for the challenges in 2022?

Sathiyan: As I made a lot of progress in the second half of 2021, I certainly feel 2022 is going to be a critical year as we have two major tournaments like Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. So I now have a fair idea about my game.

My life also came to a standstill as I tested positive for COVID-19 early in 2022 but started practising in the last week of January. So my international tour has started this month and I am already in Poland to play my first league match in 2022.

Also, I'll be focussing on improving my game in mixed-doubles with Manika. We are planning our dates accordingly so that we can train together and prepare well for CWG and Asian Games and take it to the next level once the pandemic eases down. I'll be travelling to Pune and Manika will be flying down to Chennai so that we can train together.

Once the international calendar begins, my aim in 2022 will be to break into top-15 in the single's category and obviously I want to make it big at CWG and Asian Games. So, yes it's going to be a crucial year for me.