Table Tennis is definitely going the badminton way, asserts Sathiyan Gnanasekaran
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is confident that Indian table tennis players can replicate the performance of their badminton compatriots who have progressed immensely in the last decade. He further added that missing the Birmingham 2022 CWG would be a huge loss for emerging table tennis players.
26-year-old Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is currently the highest-ranked Indian in the men's singles ITTF world rankings. Earlier this year, he climbed up to world No. 24 and became the first Indian to break into the top-25. The experienced player has team and doubles medals at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games under his belt, Sathiyan is hoping to achieve greater things in the coming years.
His victory over players like Wang Chuqin of China is a testament to his development and the Chennai-born athlete revealed that he is confident that Indian table tennis can replicate what badminton has done in the last decade under the new national coach, Dejan Papic.
"I think definitely we are going the badminton way. We just have to tick that Olympic medal (box), which badminton has already done. It's still a fair way to target the top Chinese players. They are doing really well and the dominance is still there. But you could see us beating Chinese players. I defeated Wang Chuqin, who was part of the Chinese team at the Asian Games. So we have started beating them and the Chinese supremacy is slowly coming down.
"We are already beating the Japanese and the Koreans in major tournaments. So we are on the right track and the system is really good -- the support from the federation and the Government. So in the next few years, table tennis will do something like badminton," Sathiyan told TOI in a recent interview.
Earlier, legendary Indian table tennis player - Sharath Kamal - had voiced his opinion on IOA's boycott of the 2022 CWG owing to the exclusion of shooting. When asked to respond to that, Gnanasekaran echoed the sentiments on his compatriot as he said that skipping the CWG would be a huge loss for emerging table tennis players.
"Yes, definitely I would agree with Sharath. I really feel bad that shooting has been left out. It is something to worry about and we should definitely take it up with the CWG federation. But I don't feel boycott is an option. To penalise other athletes who have been working really hard for a big event like the CWG, especially a sport like table tennis that has actually come under the spotlight because of our performance in the Commonwealth Games. So we have to treat all the sports equally. But yes, we still stand with the IOA and the shooting federation. They have our support to fight for it," he added.
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