G Sathiyan hailing from India has shown some amazing table tennis skills and has proven that he is the best at what he does. From beating the Japanese world number four two years ago, producing a historic medal-winning performance against Japan at the Asian Games and the experience of playing local league in the Olympic host nation fills paddler G Sathiyan with confidence ahead of his maiden Summer Games.
Sathiyan feels he is a much better player than he was at the 2018 Asian Games, considered a mini Olympics in the fraternity, where he won his two matches against Japan in the quarterfinals to end India’s 60-year wait for a medal at the continental Games. His good run against the Japanese continued the following year when he stunned world number four Harimoto Tomokazu in the Asian Championships though the team lost the rubber.
Sathiyan quoted “A quarterfinal finish would be amazing. It would be difficult but beating the likes of Harimoto gives a lot of confidence. And if you do manage to reach the last eight, then you can take anyone down on a given day” Unlike the Asian Games, he wouldn’t have his personal coach and Olympian S Raman by his side in Tokyo, as Manika Batra’s personal coach got the nod over him. Sathiyan is disappointed about that but is taking it in his stride.
Sathiyan feels the players from top TT nations such as China, Korea and Japan are under more pressure in multi-sporting events than the Pro Tour, making them slightly vulnerable. He stated that “There is a lot of pressure on the top Asian players as they are the favorites to win. We could see the pressure when we played against them (Japan in 2018). That is what we capitalized on. If you play aggressive from the beginning then you can make inroads and put them under pressure. They well be prepared and don’t take us lightly anymore,”
