Interview | Rehab and recovery — the two Rs that helped Sathiyan regain his mojo Premium

G. Sathiyan overcomes injuries and setbacks to rise in world rankings and aim for Paris Olympics qualification.

It was a phase G. Sathiyan had never experienced before.

Having enjoyed a career-high of World ranking of 24 in 2019, Sathiyan was going through one of the worst times of his professional table tennis career four years later.

A severe pain to his lower back and knee in the latter half of 2023 was threatening to pull him down especially with the Paris Olympics qualification looming large.

Prioritising tournaments over recovery, Sathiyan played in quite a few WTT Contender and Star Contender events, only to lose early in many events which made matters worse.

In March 2024, the 31-year-old got back his sagging confidence when he bagged the men’s singles crown at the WTT Feeder tournament in Beirut, defeating Chuang Chih-Yuan of Taipei, the top seed, in the final. The title, his fourth overall and first since 2021, pushed him up by 34 places wherein he reached No. 60 in the world rankings. He is the second ranked Indian now behind Sharath (WR 35) in men’s singles International rankings.

“I was devastated,” admitted the Commonwealth and Asian Games medallist, on the injuries. “This was the first time I was saddled with a major injury in my career.”

The best part about Sathiyan is his keenness to improve and introspect when the chips are down that separates him from others.