Tokyo 2020: 'Leaving Chennai with a positive frame of mind augurs well for me at Olympics,' says Sathiyan

Chennai, July 16: India's star table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has made rapid strides in the game in the last few years and the Chennai-based paddler is set to achieve his dream i.e. representing the country at Olympics.

Sathiyan is amongst four Indian paddlers to have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics and if his recent form and performances are to go by, the 28-year-old can beat even the best in the game on his day. The current world number 32 paddler is one of the medal hopefuls from India's 126-member strong Olympic contingent.

Before departing for Tokyo, Sathiyan had an exclusive conversation with MyKhel and spoke at length about his preparations and what it felt like after finally realising his dream to make it to his maiden Olympics.

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Speaking with MyKhel, the paddler revealed he's been in a good frame of mind and the positive vibes of staying at home and practising under the watchful eyes of his coach will bode him well at the biggest stage which kicks off July 23.

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Here are the excerpts:

MyKhel: Qualifying for the Olympics was a dream that you have been waiting for. How are you feeling, now that you are finally going to represent the country in the mega event?

Sathiyan: Definitely, it's a dream come true moment for me. Representing India at the Olympics has been my childhood dream from the moment I started playing, I dreamt of playing at the Olympics. After so many years of hard work and sacrifices, it has finally come true, so it's a very emotional and at that the same time an exciting moment not just for me but for my family, my coach and the people and support staff who've been a part of this journey. From a middle-class academic-driven family boy to turning into an Olympian has been an amazing journey. So, I am extremely happy and yeah, I am going to make sure it turns out to be a memorable one for me.

Big thanks to my personal coach @sramantt sir for his meticulous planning , preparations & in-depth coaching🙏🙏
Thanks to my sparring partner Anirban Ghosh for his dedication & commitment 👌

Thanks to @Media_SAI (TOPS) for the support and making it possible !!

— Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (@sathiyantt) July 15, 2021

MK: Are you satisfied with the preparations in the run-up to the Tokyo Games? What all did you do in Chennai to prepare for the Games and keep yourself fit amid the second wave of the pandemic that hit the country?

Sathiyan: Yes, the preparation here in Chennai has been excellent along with my coach Raman sir at the Raman TT High-Performance Centre, and with my sparring partner Anirban Ghosh as well. With Raman sir, I have worked out a lot on specific plans heading into the Olympics.

At the same time, I was working on the fitness front with Ramji Srinivas from Sports Dynamics. He understands my body very well, so we've been working hard to improve on my strength and power quotient. So yeah, it's been a great last two to three months here in Chennai. Also, being at home with my mother and getting to eat homemade food has been a great positive vibe. I've played my best when I've gone from Chennai, be it the World Cup or the Austria Open or even the national championships which I won this year. I would like to keep that momentum going.

Certainly, I would have loved to play some matches but it's not in your control but it was nice having the kind of training I had going into the Olympics.

MK: How was the international experience earlier this year? You played in the Japanese T-league last year, how will that experience help you in the Olympics? Will that give you an edge over some of your rivals?

Sathiyan: Certainly, the international matches have been less although I've played well, especially at the Olympic qualifiers where I went on topping my group and qualify. But thanks to Japan and Polish leagues, I got some much-needed match practice and as you said, the T-league was a great experience and one of the toughest leagues I've ever played in my career. So definitely, it was a very important factor in my preparation for the Olympics; playing some quality matches, training with the top players certainly will help me put up a good show in Tokyo.

MK: In which areas you worked on in the last couple of months after returning from the international tournaments? Did you add any other skills in your arsenal to face the toughest challenge of your career so far?

Sathiyan: I've worked a lot on my fitness in the last two months. I've worked hard on my power game and at the same time, I worked on my game and practised on playing those powerful strokes. I am very good a speed and agility but I wanted to improve on my power game to bring a different flavour to my game. So we've worked a lot on that front. At the same time I've worked on my variations, be it serves or receives to surprise my opponents and pull off a couple of upsets.

MK: This is going to be your maiden Olympics, are you nervous or mentally prepared to take on the challenges? Who according to you will be your biggest opponents in Tokyo?

Sathiyan: I am excited. Once I was nervous, I started preparing with my mental conditioning coach, Vivo Agassi, to keep myself in a good frame of mind heading into the Olympics. Yeah, it's going to be my debut Olympics. You know, I've played my debut Commonwealth and Asian Games well. So I am looking to bring experiences from there on the biggest stage and give out my best. I hope, I make this Olympics count. For me, it's about making a few upsets, take it round by round and not think too ahead. I'll be looking to enjoy on the court and give your 100 per cent.

The biggest opponents certainly would be the paddlers from China, Japan, Korea and Germany. There will be a lot of good players but players from these four countries will be the ones to watch out for.

MK: There's still suspense over the presence of crowds during the games, there have been reports that some 10000 audiences will be allowed per day by the organisers. Is it going to be a challenge playing in front of empty stands?

Sathiyan: I would have loved to play in front of a Japanese crowd, they are amazing. I've had some good experiences playing at Asia Cup, Japan Open and the crowd was exceptional. We'll miss playing in front of the Japanese crowd.

As I have played in the Japanese league, I have a lot of Japanese fans and friends there. I would love to meet them during or after the matches but unfortunately, there will be no fans and spectators at the Olympics. As we have played a few matches without many spectators in the leagues.

So we are kind of used to that environment as well, so I've been preparing myself mentally to keep up my best despite not having spectators. I'll definitely miss them, but I know they'll be supporting me from where ever they are. With all their love and blessings, I'll be able to give my best.

MK: Since you are a big MS Dhoni fan. If you got a chance to talk to him before a match in Tokyo. What will be your question to him that you think will charge you up furthermore?

Sathiyan: Yeah, I am a huge fan of MS Dhoni. He's been the 'captain cool', someone who's been always calm no matter what happens. It will be a great meeting with a legend like him and I'll have a lot of questions regarding his career and everything.

But what I'd love to ask him is 'how do you maintain your calmness even during the big matches like the World Cup final? What went through your mind before that World Cup final and what were you doing to remain calm during crunch situations?' So, these will be my questions to him for that will help me pick up his brains and give my best on a big stage like the Olympics.