The Raman high-performance table tennis centre at Chennai is a beehive of activity on most days. Rookies, amateurs and players on the comeback trail can all be found inside the main hall — roughly 70 feet by 45 feet — of the academy, located on the second floor of a posh residential area in the city.
Usually, at least five tables are in operation, with a few coaches looking on. On Tuesday, there was a rearrangement of sorts. Two of the five tables disappeared.
A major portion of the hall was also cordoned off and the academy’s players had to contend with just two tables. Something was afoot. A few short hours later, G Sathiyan, coach S Raman’s most famous student, and Shen Yaohuan walked into the cordoned-off area. That exact moment signalled a new beginning for the sport in the country; it was the very first time that an Indian player began hitting with a professional sparring partner in the country.
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How do you describe the sound of glass breaking? Shatter? Clink? Smash? If you ask the same question to a non-Chinese paddler, they might say words like ‘mental block, nightmare or horror’. For the Chinese paddlers have a special rubber on the forehand side of their paddles. Called Hurricane, they are different to the ones used by every player in every other country. The company that manufactures this rubber does not even export it.
Everything about Hurricane is different. The sheet is extra sticky, it’s hard and it takes years of practice to even master the art of playing with this rubber. If a 20-year-old suddenly decided to shift to this piece of equipment, he/she is likely to give up the ghost soon. Even if it’s a hypothesis, the theory is backed by some of the leading exponents in the field.
How is it different? It generates extra spin on the tiny white balls, and the rubber makes the ball do unpredictable things. It jumps. It drops. It skids. That unpredictability is why most players develop a phobia, a mental block if you like, whenever they come face to face against a Chinese opponent.
Sathiyan was like that.
“Definitely there is a mental block against the Chinese with that rubber (they use),” he says after a training session with Yaohuan. “The sound it generates is very different... because the rubber behaves very differently. The mental block has come in because it is something actually happens. Sometimes, the ball dies. Other times, it kicks up.”
The 26-year-old also explains why players cannot randomly start practising with it. “If you see the arms of the Indians, we keep it loose. When you see the Chinese, they tend to hold the entire racquet. They will not keep their wrist loose. You need that to hit with that rubber. You cannot have soft skills and play with it... it’s not fun to play with it, but well, you become an Olympic champion.”
The Indian has got a point. The Chinese have won 28 out of 32 gold medals at the Olympics in the sport. And guess what? The Chinese national team has a rule. You can only enter the squad if you play with ‘Hurricane’. The 22-year-old Yaohuan, who is from Guangzhou, isn’t in the Chinese team. But he has been playing with Hurricane ‘as long as I can remember’. The incredibly toned biceps on his right hand is a clear indication that he isn’t joking. When he unwinds to hit another forehand winner past Sathiyan, one gets a glimpse into the rubber’s speciality. Ravi Shastri would have called it
‘tracer bullet’, such was the pace on the ball.
Watching on, Raman silently nods. His ward is beaten on that particular point but this is a priceless week of training before they depart for the World Cup in Chengdu. Hitting against Yaohuan — a sort of Rafael Nadal of the sparring world — is giving Sathiyan the necessary edge he needs to tackle the sport’s biggest fishes. Apart from getting used to the rubber, this gives him the opportunity to reach Chengdu without the need to warm up or taking a couple of days to get ready.
“When Sathiyan is going to an event like the World Cup, he needs to be in prime shape not only in the level of game but in the level of being game ready,” Raman says. “There is no time to settle down as there is an explicit need to hit the ground running.”
In a tournament that has Ma Long (China; World No 3) and Fan Zhendong (China; World No 2), one can understand that sentiment. That’s the justification for the nine-day session with Yaohuan. After another ripping forehand winner past Sathiyan, the two players call for a water break. Raman heads over to the table to get a feel of the Chinese player’s paddle. “When Indians hit it, you get the sound of plywood. When these guys hit it, you hear the sound of glass breaking.”
Shatter. Clink. Smash.
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Let’s assume there are three Indian players named X, Y and Z. All of them have a world ranking next to their names. But as players, they are clearly inferior to Player A, someone who’s ranked inside the top 30. Now A has sparred with all of them but is left unsatisfied by the exercise. He is unsatisfied because all three of X, Y and Z lack the skills that A has. They also do not challenge A in training. They have limited skills, don’t put quality balls back in play and lack the overall game to push A.
This is essentially what forced Sathiyan to look for a foreign sparring partner. After Raman suggested the idea to him, he chanced upon Yaohuan during a meet in Hong Kong. After downloading WeChat — a Chinese messaging app — he persuaded the 22-year-old to come down to Chennai. Getting used to the sound of the Hurricane rubber is just one of the many reasons why the Guangzhou-based player is in town.
“We wouldn’t have spoken to him if he was a defensive player by nature,” Sathiyan says. “There are not many defensive players in the world so the whole purpose will have been defeated if he was defensive.” Raman concurs. “He is quick, has a vicious forehand and you can see that his game has the
necessary variety to challenge the best.” That’s just one part; he brings with him a solid work ethic, is selfless and likes to put in the hard yards to help out the guy at the other end. “I have sparred with many players but there is a difference between these sessions and the ones I have had in the past,” the Asian Games medallist says.
“There, I would have to give my time as well. Here, I have no such problems. In each two-and-a-half-hour session, Yaohuan dedicates every single minute to me. He will have no problems if I want him to play one way so that I can get used to it. He, in a way, plays for me.”
Before the session came to an end, the multiple times Commonwealth Games gold medallist not only got the hang of the forehands, he also managed to find a few winners of his own. Chengdu will give clues as to the short term benefits of this exercise.