Sathiyan Gnanasekaran won his first CWG singles medal as he bagged the bronze in the men’s singles TT event. Sathiyan won 11-9, 11-3, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9 against Paul Drinkhall in a match for third place. He has also won a gold medal in the Men’s team event and a silver medal in the men’s doubles in Birmingham.
Sathiyan started playing table tennis as a hobby in school and took part in inter-school events. Here his skills were spotted by the former Indian paddler and Arjuna awardee Subramanian Raman. Then Sathiyan started playing in tournaments during his engineering degree.
Subramanian asked Sathiyan to focus more on his table tennis practice and started training under Raman's guidance. He then took part in junior-level state and national competitions. He made his international debut in the 2011 World Junior Championships for India and won a bronze medal.
Sathiyan had a difficult transition from the junior to senior-level games as he couldn't find a breakthrough point in the senior competitions. He went to Germany to get high-level training and won his first pro title by winning a gold medal in TT singles at the ITTF x Challenge in Belgium in 2017 He then won a bronze medal in Men's Doubles at the ITTE Major in Sweden and has emerged as one of the premier paddlers in the country.
Name: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran
Age: 29 years
Born on: 8 January 1993
Birthplace: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Profession: Employee of ONGC
Coach: Subramanian Raman
Achievements:
Arjuna Award 2018
TOISA Table Tennis player of the year award 2017 (Jury choice)
Asian Games
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Jakarta Men's team
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast Men's team
Gold medal – first place 2022 Birmingham Men's team
Silver medal – second place 2018 Gold Coast Men's doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Gold Coast Mixed doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Birmingham Men's singles
Silver medal – second place 2022 Birmingham Men's doubles
Asian Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Doha Men's team
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Doha Men's doubles
ITTF Challenge
Gold medal – first place 2016 Belgium Men's singles
Gold medal – first place 2017 Spain Men's singles
ITTF Major
Gold medal – first place 2021 Budapest Mixed doubles
Gold medal – first place 2021 Czech Republic Men's singles
Silver medal – second place 2017 Bulgaria Men's doubles
ITTF Platinum
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Geelong Men's doubles
ITTF Challenge Plus
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Muscat Men's singles