G Sathiyan’s Greatest Game: Changing tack to shock table tennis’ poster boy Tomokazu Harimoto

Ask any athlete about how tough it is to win against a pre-tournament favourite and he will tell you the degree of difficulty.

Apart from the opponent’s skill-set, the general mood around the stadium makes it even more daunting. Victory is sweeter for the underdog when he conquers the odds. This is exactly what Sathiyan Gnanasekaran experienced at the 2019 Asian Table Tennis Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

The Indian table tennis player beat Japanese prodigy Tomokazu Harimoto 11-4, 11-7, 12-10 in the men’s team match at the tournament and he believes it was one of his most complete performances.

“It was always my dream to beat a top-5 or top-10 player and what better opponent to do it against than Harimoto and that too, in straight games. I played really well, played out of my skin and I was very aggressive that day,” Sathiyan Gnanasekaran told the Olympic Channel.

Taking the initiative

The men’s team, comprising Sathiyan, veteran Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai had a relatively simple ride to the quarter-finals, beating Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia and Thailand enroute.

The Indian table tennis team faced its first real threat in the last eight, where it was drawn against Japan, who boasted of a 16-year-old Tomokazu Harimoto in their ranks.

Tomokazu was the newest star of table tennis then, having become the youngest player to win the erstwhile ITTF World Tour Grand Finals at 15 years and 172 days in 2018 and was world No. 5 coming into the 2019 Asian Table Tennis Championships.

G Sathiyan had played him once before, at the 2018 Qatar Open, where he had pushed Tomokazu all the way to seven games, before eventually falling in the decider.

The ultra-aggressive strategy on the day was not a spur-of-the-moment decision from G Sathiyan, it was a well-thought-out plan to change approach.

“I had a chat with (coach) Raman sir and we decided that I had a better chance against Tomokazu than anyone else. Raman sir told me that I needed to surprise him, and go all guns blazing from the start,” recalled Sathiyan.

G Sathiyan considers himself a counter-attacking player, so a change in style in one of the biggest matches of his career would have seemed daunting.

However, the Indian’s confidence was sky-high – he had not lost any of his matches at the tournament and had risen to world No. 24 in May that year, the first time any Indian had cracked the top-25 in the world rankings.

It showed in his display against Tomokazu.

“I was attacking him from all angles and from both sides, my returns were quicker and I was relentless. The strategy worked, it caught him totally by surprise,” said Sathiyan.

“He took two games to adapt to the approach, and by then, I had changed gears and was in my zone. I could see the whole Japan bench was shocked when I won that first match and even the crowds were taken aback.”

A memorable tournament

G Sathiyan had given the Indian team a 1-0 lead in the men’s team quarter-final, but Sharath Kamal then lost to Maharu Yoshimura while Harmeet Desai fell to Takuya Jin.

Tomokazu Harimoto also recovered from his early setback to beat Sharath Kamal and win the tie 3-1 for Japan and ensure their passage through to the semi-finals.

G Sathiyan was scheduled to play Yoshimura in the final fixture but the tie was decided before that match. It only gave him more time to recover for his singles campaign.

Sathiyan was equally impressive in the men’s singles, making it through to the quarter-finals, making him the first Indian male to reach that stage, where he fell to eventual runner-up, China’s Lin Gaoyuan.

It brought an end to a stunning run in the tournament.

“I enjoyed a memorable Asian Championships that year. I went unbeaten in the team event and I put up a great fight against Gaoyuan in the singles too. I had a lot of good wins,” stated Sathiyan.

The Indian table tennis player will hope to draw inspiration from that tournament, and especially his victory against Tomokazu when he takes to the table for his maiden Olympics at Tokyo later this year.