Sathiyan 2.0 seems to be to search out his approach again to the large leagues

The No.1 participant on the boys’s home rankings, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, was not enjoying for the Petroleum Sports activities Promotion Board (PSPB) group. A knee problem, he says, prompted him to sit down out of the ultimate.

“I used to be a part of the group and I felt this might be good for the group,” he instructed HT, after PSPB beat the Railways 3-2 for the title. “I don’t need to be having doubts in my thoughts and go and play and never be capable to give my greatest. If I’m not at my greatest, and one thing occurs, then we’re shedding on either side (the ultimate and an aggravated damage).”

For a participant who has not too long ago had his struggles with damage and type, the choice displays a brand new mindset the 31-year-old has adopted about the way in which he approaches the sport. He dubs it, “Sathiyan 2.0.”

Earlier, Sathiyan can be prepared and keen to compete every time attainable, be it in a person occasion or for a group competitors. However the again damage he picked up after the delayed Asian Video games in 2023 began to have an effect on his hips and knees, and finally, his type. It was the primary time in his profession that he had suffered this extreme an damage.

“The issue was that it was the 2024 Olympic qualification cycle and I needed to push by it. If I made a decision to step out and get well, I used to be lacking the Olympics for positive,” says the 31-year-old.

“Full relaxation would have undoubtedly made me get higher, however I made a decision to have remedy whereas enjoying to attempt to make it extra manageable.”

He did take a while off in November 2023 and returned for the Senior Nationals a month later, finally shedding within the remaining to Harmeet Desai.

“I used to be struggling rather a lot (within the 2023 Nationals). I used to be taped up and needed to have a whole lot of painkillers,” he remembers.

He had lastly recovered by March 2024, however the rating had taken a beating. In 2019, Sathiyan had change into the primary Indian singles participant to interrupt into the highest 25 world rankings. By early final yr, he had fallen past the 100 mark.

His method nevertheless, has modified. As a substitute of a continuing give attention to technical enhancements, he’s now paying eager consideration to bodily health and restoration.

“I by no means gave significance to restoration and as a substitute simply stored enjoying” says Sathiyan. “I believed sleep is sweet restoration, however I wanted the right sports activities science technique – a pool session, a therapeutic massage, a lot of stretching. That was by no means my precedence record as a teen.”

On the similar time, he has learnt learn how to deal with the schedule higher moderately than compete at each attainable occasion. That nevertheless, is not going to be straightforward.

“With the type of the obligatory World Desk Tennis (WTT) and Indian tournaments occurring, the schedule has been fairly laborious for all of the athletes,” he says. “There’s no time for any breather. However I feel we began to simply accept it. And I’ve now realized learn how to plan the schedule higher. The best way to handle your physique. Concentrate on your self.”

Return to the large leagues

Shortly after his return from damage, he went on to win a WTT Feeder occasion in Beirut, Lebanon. It was his fourth worldwide title, however the paddler from Chennai considers it the one which got here on the most opportune second.

“It made me really feel that ‘I’m again within the large leagues,’” says Sathiyan, who’s at present ranked 72 on this planet. “This was my comeback win and it got here on the proper time. It helped reassure me.”

It was his first actual indication that he was on his approach out of the droop. However this was not the primary time he had hit a tough patch.

He remembers feeling “actually low” after his father handed away 10 years in the past. Only a month later although, in December 2015, he paired up with Ankita Das to change into the primary Indians to win the combined doubles gold on the Commonwealth Championships. By the way, that title got here on the Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Indoor Stadium in Surat, the venue of the continued nationals.

“I really feel that each time I’m in a droop, I at all times come out of it a greater participant,” he provides. “The losses and accidents train you greater than the winnings.”

He has had loads of learnings over the previous few years. Armed with that information, he’s aiming to get again to the upper echelons of the game – the place he as soon as was not way back.