CHENNAI: “If you fail to prepare, you are prepared to fail.” Mark Spitz. This is just one of the many motivational posters stuck on the blue walls surrounding the Raman high-performance centre, an academy for table tennis excellence in the city. It’s almost like coach S Raman and his leading ward G Sathiyan have taken that quote to heart. For, on Thursday, they announced a first-of-its-kind initiative for the sport in the country.
To properly prepare Sathiyan ahead of the World Cup in Chengdu later this month (November 29 to December 1), they have invited Shen Yaohuan to the city for a week of intense sparring sessions at the academy. Guangzhou-based Yaohuan doesn’t have an ITTF ranking and his trophy cabinet is non-existent.
But the 22-year-old doesn’t need to, his calling card is that of a sparring partner. Having sparred with the likes of Yun-Ju Lin (Chinese Taipei; World No 10), Chun Ting Wang (Hong Kong; World No 14) over the last 18 months, Yaohuan’s services are highly sought after in the sport. Yaohuan, a Chinese national who has trained with the likes of World No 1 Fan Zhendong in the past, arrived in the city on Tuesday and has already had a few sessions with Sathiyan. The 26-year-old Indian athlete said: “It’s a first of its kind initiative and the idea was my coach’s. He basically said ‘why not try this venture’.”
While the World No 30 has had myriad sparring partners before, the one difference between then and now is that he is at home. “This initiative is for him to prepare for the World Cup, it’s one of the biggest events in the sport,” Raman said. “This is different because he will be at home, under my watchful eyes where he will readily have access to his fitness trainers and also enjoy staying at home. Psychologically, he will be in a great space going into Chengdu.”
This kind of a training session with Raman on the sidelines is also beneficial because there is no need to send videos back to India before waiting for feedback, it is available on the spot. “He (Yaohuan) was doing one kind of service and I noticed within a minute that Sathiyan had no problems dealing with it. So I stopped the session and told him (Yaohuan) to serve differently as Sathiyan has more trouble with that.” This, in a nutshell, also explains the advantages of hitting with an out and out sparring partner and not a fellow professional.
Sathiyan explains. “When I am sparring in China it’s different because they are not there for you. If I have a sequence for 15 minutes, then I need to give the same 15 minutes to the other player as well. Here, he is there for me the entire session. Also, I need not hide my weapons as he (Yaohuan) doesn’t play in competitions.” So what’s Sathiyan’s realistic Chengdu goals? “Expectations are always high... will aim for a medal, we have to go with that belief.”
Permanent fixture?
Inviting sparring partners from China may become a permanent part of Sathiyan’s training module in the future. What’s more, the Indian team might also be getting a couple in the near future.