CHENNAI: After losing the first two games against France’s Simon Gauzy, G Sathiyan was livid with himself. Even while talking to coach S Raman during a water break before the start of the third, he kept muttering: “This happens every time. Why does this happen to me?”.
Sathiyan wasn’t very upset that he was down two games. What really got his goat was the way he’d conceded them. He lost the first 11-13 after leading 10-6. He lost the second 9-11 after winning the first five points. Raman took his ward aside and told him,
“The match is within your grasp. Keep believing and you can win”. At stake was a potential place in the last-16 of the ongoing ITTF World Cup in Chengdu, one of the most prestigious events table tennis has to offer.
Sensing an opportunity to beat the World No 22 for the first time in four meetings, the 26-year-old went into battle with renewed confidence.
It was this confidence that helped him prevail 4-3 (11-13, 9-11, 11-8, 14-12, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8). Using it as a platform, the World No 30 beat another higher-ranked player later on Friday: World No 24 Jonathan Groth (11-3, 12-10, 7-11, 16-14, 8-11, 11-8).
“He 100 per cent believes that he belongs at this level,” was how Raman summed up Sathiyan’s performance.
“Before today, he hadn’t beaten Gauzy as well as Groth in the 4-5 matches he’s played against them. This is a message from Sathiyan to the world that he is coming. This is just the start of something better.”
Much of the work to take down both Gauzy and Groth happened inside Raman’s high-performance centre in Chennai, over the last 10 days. The pair burned the midnight oil to discuss strategies.
They also invited Shen Yaohuan, a high-quality Chinese sparring partner to train with Sathiyan. “These things always help,” Raman said. “Even though Sathiyan arrived in Chengdu only yesterday (Thursday), he was already sharp thanks to those sessions with Yaohuan. There was no need for him to play a couple of matches to get ready. He was already in the zone. Today’s results are ample evidence of that.”
The reward for winning both his group games is a meeting against German veteran Timo Boll, a three-time Olympic medallist, in the pre-quarterfinals on Saturday. “Sathiyan was thrilled with what he did. He said so himself. But he knows he is capable of more. Playing against Boll will be a good challenge for him. It will give an accurate reflection of how far he has progressed this year,” Raman added.
On paper, the 38-year-old starts as favourite against Sathiyan. But the one thing that the Chennai native has consistently done this season is beat higher-ranked players. The German, though, is a different beast. But obstacles are there to be scaled.