Paddler Sathiyan confident of India’s best performance at Asian Games

Indian table tennis team has a fine mix of youth and experience and is confident of delivering its best performance yet in the Asian Games to be held in September-October, says G Sathiyan, the senior-most member of the side.

With Sharath Kamal retiring from the sport last year, the 33-year-old Sathiyan will have the responsibility of leading a side that has youngsters like Payas Jain and Syndrela Das.

“For almost a decade I have played with him (Sharath Kamal) in the team and we have learnt a lot. The best part about him is he never lets the age gap come between us and that is what I have learnt,” Sathiyan told PTI on the sidelines of Ultimate Table Tennis.

“It is really important to connect with the youngsters as well. Share your ideas but listen to them. Give them that space of what they really want to do. Let them do their own style.

“Pressure is a privilege. Yes, there is pressure on being a senior member and handling the youngsters, a mix of them. But this is what we have been playing for. I am pretty sure with Manav (Thakkar), Manush (Shah), Harmeet (Desai) and Payas (Jain), we have a great mix of young and experienced side.” Sathiyan added, “I am pretty sure we will deliver the best performance India has ever seen in the Asian Games. (But) Having Sharath in the team was always a great thing because he would take the pressure from us and take the team so smoothly.” Asked if he would feel any additional pressure individually to add to his bronze medal from the 2018 Asian Games, Sathiyan said the preparations have been up to the mark.

“I would not say (there is) desperation. We are really confident with the way we have just played, prepared really well. When you get really nervous about what is going to happen, then it adds a negative pressure to it,” he said. “It is really important to be positive, trusting your training like how I trusted my conditioning work. The team has really trained well together. And UTT being a great preparation heading into the Asian Games, I am pretty sure this team will give the best performance in Japan,” Sathiyan added. India No. 3 said the knee injury he suffered earlier this year proved to be a turning point.

“I would say the injury at this time was a blessing in disguise that I really needed that kind of a fitness break,” Sathiyan said. “...A forced fitness break to keep myself because I feel at this point of my career, it was really important to work on my fitness because playing back-to-back tournaments is not viable. You cannot just keep playing tournaments one after the other.”

Sathiyan said that while it is important for him to prioritise playing in tournaments, he was able to do a lot of strength and conditioning work during the lay-off period. “It is really important to prioritise, to really choose and play what tournaments you are going to play. After (since) that injury in Singapore Smash in February, I have just played one tournament — the World Championships,” Sathiyan said.