ITTF World Table Tennis Championship 2023: Charting the rise of G Sathiyan and Manika Batra as genuine medal contenders

Manika Batra and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan are two of the more prolific players in the current Indian Table Tennis circuit. While both have had their share of struggles on their paths to glory, they remain hungry for success and tend to thrive under pressure.

Batra and Sathiyan recently participated in the 57th ITTF World Table Tennis Championship held in Durban, South Africa. Batra's run to the Round of 32 was the best among Indian players in the singles category both in men and women.

World No. 34 Batra lost an intense contest 4-3 to Puerto Rico’s World No.14 Adriana Diaz, the same opponent that she defeated in the WTT Star Contender Goa a couple of months ago.

Meanwhile, Sathiyan crashed out in the Round of 64 after he went down against German Qiu Dang 0-4.

Sathiyan and Manika, one of two Indian pairs in the mixed doubles event, fought fiercely till the Round of 16, but couldn't progress further. The two only teamed up after the Tokyo Olympics with the intention of competing in the Paris Olympics next year. Within a year after pairing up, they broke into the top 10 of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) mixed doubles rankings.

Sathiyan and Manika became the mixed doubles World No. 7 in March 2022, a couple of months after they bagged a silver medal in the WTT Contender in Doha. Eight months after that, the pair scripted history by becoming the first Indian mixed doubles pair to enter the top 5 of the world rankings.

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Manika Batra's comeback from a rough patch

Earlier in January, Manika Batra attained her career-best World No. 33 rank in the women’s singles after beating the then World No. 7 Chen Xingtong and World No. 6 Hina Hayat to clinch a historic bronze medal at the 2022 Asian Cup.

Batra became the first Indian female table tennis player to win an elusive medal at the continental event and only the second player from the country after Chetan Baboor’s twin medals — silver in 1997 and bronze in 2000.

However, things have looked bleak for the 27-year-old paddler in the last two years. Her refusal to take guidance from then-national coach Soumyadeep Roy saw her get into a tussle with the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI). The battle went on for close to seven months until the intervention of the Indian judicial structure.

Although Batra won the fight in the court, she apparently lost her mojo in the game. She made just one semifinal appearance, and two in the quarterfinals, in 2022.

Batra, who bagged four medals in the 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG), including a gold in the women’s singles, endured a medalless tournament in the 2022 edition of the event.

In order to end her barren run, Batra got in touch with her friend and former national player Aman Balgu, who became the star paddler's third personal coach in the last three years. She was hoping to transform her game under Balgu as working with German coach Chris Pfeiffer wasn’t yielding any results, as per what Batra told Sportstar in March.

Balgu told Sportskeeda that they aren't far away from having her win a medal at a major event, and stated that he helped her get back into her groove by first ensuring she had a positive environment around her.

“Ater the World Championships, one thing we know that we are not far. We are just a step away from a medal in other major events. It was a good experience as well as good confidence for her. Manika was always a champion player, so it is nothing that I have done something. Of course when she came to me, she was going through a rough patch which every sportsperson goes through,” Balgu said.

“When I started training her, I knew one thing that she needs an atmosphere where it is all about positivity and talk about things which actually matters. The first thing which I did is to give her a happy surrounding. There were mixed of things we did which is not technical or something but also very important for her. At her level it is not always about technique but also about mind,” he added.

Batra had adapted her backhand game with the long-pimpled rubber which helps paddlers absorb the pace and spin to slow down the game.

Balgu ensured that Batra could combine her aggressive game style with the long pimple in order to stay ahead of an attacking rally with her international counterparts.

Balgu isn't paying any attention to the rankings and stated that they are focused on getting better with each game right now.

“Ranking is just a number. It’s by product something one cannot have a vision about it. It is a good wish to have it to be in top 20 or top 10 or maybe no.1 also. At the end of the day it is just a number. All we can do is focus on developing the game. Of course we are developing with each month and each game we are passing on,” Balgu opined.

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Sathiyan banking on calmness to live up to expectations

Gnanasekaran Sathiyan, who bagged a bronze medal in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games following the triumph over England’s Paul Drinkhall, has learned the nous of dealing with the pressure after the Tokyo Olympics.

Sathiyan won the men’s title in the 84th Senior National Table Tennis Championship in March, after 10-time winner Achanta Sharath Kamal pulled out of the event to manage his workload. The 30-year-old defeated the likes of Fidel R. Snehit, Sudhanshu Grover, Manav Thakkar, and Harmeet Desai en route to his second national title in his sixth final appearance.

In 2019, the Chennai paddler became the first Indian to break into the top 25 of the ITTF men’s singles ranking when he became the World No. 24. Currently, he is ranked No. 56, five places behind India’s highest-ranked player, Sharath Kamal.

Sathiyan will rely on his experience with a calm mindset as he prepares for big tournaments, like the Asian Games later this year and the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Sathiyan and Batra often shuffle between Chennai and Hyderabad to practice for the mixed doubles. Since the latter started to train with Balgu, she has committed more of her time in Hyderabad, after earlier training majorly in Mumbai. Balgu and Sathiyan's coach Raman Subramanian have done their best to conduct as many training sessions as possible in either Chennai or Hyderabad.

Sathiyan and Batra are certainly contenders to help India finish on the podium in multiple events at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Despite playing away from home at the World Table Tennis Championships, the two received plenty of support from home courtesy of Cadbury Dairy Milk’s #CheerForAllSports initiative, where fans could cheer for their favourite paddlers via fan walls installed in the stadium. If you wish to be a part of this initiative, register here.