Top-20 looks achievable, says Sathiyan

After clinching the singles title in the IITF Challenge Spanish Open recently, G. Sathiyan has jumped 20 places to reach 68 and become the second highest ranked Indian after Sharath Kamal at 62, who dropped 17 places from 45.

G. Sathiyan also had a fine run at the inaugural edition of the Ultimate Table Tennis league earlier this year.

G. Sathiyan has reached a career-high world ranking of 68 in singles and 15 in doubles in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world ranking list released recently.

After clinching the singles title in the IITF Challenge Spanish Open recently, Sathiyan jumped 20 places to become the second highest ranked Indian after Sharath Kamal at 62, who dropped 17 places from 45.

READ: Sathiyan wins Spanish Open

In doubles, too, Sathiyan’s performance has been praiseworthy. He won four medals  so far- a bronze at the Thailand Challenge with A. Amalraj, a silver medal at the Bulgaria World Tour partnering Soumyajit Ghosh, a bronze at the Belgium Challenge with Sharath and another bronze at the World Tour Sweden Open with Sharath.

“It’s been the best year for me. I worked on more specifics with my coach S. Raman and the results have shown. I am playing more tournaments abroad and it has helped. A special thanks to India coach Massimo Costantini who has been giving valuable inputs,” he said. "My goal of reaching the top 20 looks definitely possible.”