G. Sathiyan reached a career best world ranking of 28, according to the ranking list released by International Table Tennis Federation on Wednesday. This is the best ever ranking achieved by an Indian in singles.
“It feels great, amazing. I am thrilled to be close to my stated goal of being in the top 20,” said the 26-year-old.
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Sathiyan’s rankings shot up thanks to a fine show in several tournaments over a period of 12 months, beginning February, 2018 (the best eight are taken for consideration). They include the Qatar Open (reached the round of 16), Hong Kong and Korea Open (round of 32), Australian Open (round of 16), and Austria Open (round of 16). “Reaching the main draw of two Platinum series and two Major series where I also defeated higher-ranked players ensured I attained my best ranking,” he said.
Sathiyan’s upset wins over Marcos Freitas, Jeong Sangeun (Austria Open), Oshima Yuya (Qatar Open), Kenta Matsudaira, Ueda Jin (Asian Games), Gao Ning, Andrej Gacina and Emmanuel Lebesson (all in World championships) gave him the confidence to push his game further up.
'Working hard'
Sathiyan has changed to faster and impactful rubber on forehand (Tenergy Hard). “I am working hard with my coach S. Raman and physical trainer (Ramji Srinivasan) and I can say that winning a medal in Pro Tour is definitely possible and winning a medal at the 2020 Olympics as a team is certainly not impossible,” said Sathiyan.
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