Superman Sathiyan plays six matches in a day, loses just one
Sathiyan's senior teammate Achanta Sharath Kamal too figured in six matches on Friday and managed to advance to the next stage in men's singles and doubles.
The Indian men’s table tennis team have attained their highest ever world ranking by climbing to eighth in the latest rankings released by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on December 3.
Their previous ranking of ninth that came out last month was India’s highest ever in the men’s team category. Now, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran’s exploits at the World Table Tennis Cup has helped them better that.
Sathiyan beat the higher-ranked Simon Gauzy of France and Jonathan Groth at the World Cup in Chengdu, China. He subsequently lost to German world no.1 Timo Boll in his first knockout match. Apart from Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai’s win at the ITTF Challenge Indonesia Open TT championship has also helped India’s cause.
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Indian table tennis has been on an upward curve over the past two years. The men”s team, featuring the likes of Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran won gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2018, bronze at the Asian Games in the same year and gold at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in September. They were placed 13th in the rankings last year.
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