From January 13th to 20th, Indian table tennis players will be in Dusseldorf training alongside German athletes to prepare for the Olympic qualifiers. For the men's team, world number 30 G Sathiyan and world number 34 Sharath Kamal have a strong shot at qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
With a current world ranking of 8th, the Indian team needs a quarter-final finish in the qualifying tournament to book their ticket to the Olympics. Sathiyan Gnanasekaran believes they are in a great position to qualify; despite anticipating tough battles against Hong Kong and Croatia, he feels the team is physically and mentally ready to overcome them.
The Olympic qualifying event is scheduled for January 22nd–26th, 2020, in Gondomar, Portugal. Sharath highlighted that the upcoming training camp in Germany will allow them to test their skills against world-class opposition, providing a crucial reality check before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Earlier in December, 26-year-old Sathiyan returned to Chennai after a productive ten-day training spell with high-ranking players in South Korea. He then joined a local camp at Nehru Stadium where several table tennis players gathered for ten days of doubles practice, emphasizing the critical need to find the most compatible partner for the qualifiers.
Explaining the strategy, Sathiyan noted that the Chennai camp prioritized doubles because regulations limit players from a doubles pair to only one singles match each. This requires meticulous planning, which is why they are currently experimenting with every possible pairing to find the strongest combination.
Sathiyan spoke highly of his time in South Korea, mentioning that the support from local players and the world-class facilities at the National Training Centre were invaluable. The Chennai-based athlete is now preparing to travel to Germany, where he will represent his team in the German Cup semi-finals.
The success of the pair is evident from their bronze medal win for the Indian men's team, alongside another bronze earned in mixed doubles by Sharath and Manika Batra, who placed in the top four at the 2018 Asian Games. Manika has also made waves by winning gold in the women's singles at the Gold Coast Games and climbing to 52nd in the world rankings. Furthermore, India's strength in the sport was highlighted at the Commonwealth Games, where they secured eight medals, including three golds.