Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has been of the opinion that Indian table tennis fans have now realized that their paddlers could go up against the once-feared Koreans and Chinese players and win. After performing well in the Asian Table Tennis Championships, Sathiyan is aiming Swedish and German Cup next.

The Chennai paddler Gnanasekaran Sathiyan notched up an 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 win against An-ji Song of North Korea in the pre-quarterfinal match at the Asian Table Tennis Championships. Among the women players, only Ayhika entered the pre-quarterfinals before losing to Ding Ning of China.