Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is a famous Indian table tennis player. In 2019, he became the first Indian TT player to reach the world top 25 ITTF rankings and finished 24th in the world rankings.
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Wiki/Biography
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran was born on Sunday, 8 January 1993 (age 29 years; as in 2022) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Their zodiac sign is Capricorn. He completed his schooling from Kola Perumal Chetty Vaishnav Senior Secondary School in Tamil Nadu. Later, he earned a B.Tech degree in Information Technology from St. Joseph’s College of Engineering, Chennai. According to Sathiyan, he was involved in table tennis training in school as a hobby. Gradually he started participating in inter-school competitions. Former Indian table tennis player and Arjuna Award winner Subramaniam Raman noticed Sathiyan’s skills during one such competition. Later, Raman encouraged Sathiyan to play table tennis tournaments while pursuing his engineering degree.
Sathiya Gnanasekaran with his coach Subramaniam Raman
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 6″
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
Family
parents and siblings
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran’s father died of cancer in 2015.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran with his father
His mother’s name is Malarakodi Gnanasekaran.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran with his mother
He has two elder sisters named Divya and Rekha Gnanasekaran. Both of them are married.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran with his sisters
Wife
he is not married.
livelihood
table tennis
During his engineering studies, he started practicing table tennis under the guidance of Subramaniam Raman. He started participating in junior level state and national competitions. In 2011, she made her international debut by participating in the World Junior Championships, where she won a bronze medal for India. Subsequently, he faced many difficulties in moving from junior to senior level games and did not get his breakthrough point in the senior level championships. He was then advised to take professional training in Germany. In 2017, she earned a gold medal in TT singles at the ITTF Challenge held in Belgium. The same year, he participated in the men’s doubles at the ITTF Major in Sweden and won the bronze medal. After this he won the silver medal in the ITTF Challenge held in Bulgaria.
Sathiya Gnanasekaran in his early TT days vs now
In the same year, he participated in the ITTF Challenge held in Spain and won his second consecutive gold medal in the singles tournament. After winning this event, he became the first Indian table tennis player to win two Pro Tour titles. In 2018, he participated in the Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia and won gold, silver and bronze medals in men’s team, men’s doubles and mixed doubles respectively. In the same year, he competed in the men’s doubles championship at the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia and won the bronze medal. Reportedly, this men’s team has won a medal after sixty years in Indian history. In 2019, he competed at the Asian TT Championships and reached the quarterfinals of the men’s singles. After this he became the first Indian table tennis player in 43 years to reach the quarter-finals of this tournament in the men’s singles category. In 2020, he competed at the men’s doubles ITTF World Tour Championships in Hungary with his partner Achanta Sharath Kamal and won the silver medal.
Sathiya Gnanasekaran with Achanta Sharath Kamal after winning the ITTF Major in Hungary
This cleared his path for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In 2020, Lam Siu-Hong of Hong Kong defeated him in the second round of the Tokyo Olympics.
government officer
After winning several medals and accolades for India, he was appointed by the Government of India as the Senior Executive of the Human Resources Department at the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
medal
Sleep
2016: ITTF World Tour Belgian Open (Men’s Singles) in Belgium.
2017: ITTF Challenge Spanish Open (Men’s Singles) in Spain.
2018: Commonwealth Games (men’s team) in Gold Coast, Australia.
silver
2017: Seamaster Asarel Bulgaria Open (Men’s Doubles) in Bulgaria.
2018: Commonwealth Games 2018 (men’s doubles) in Gold Coast, Australia
2020: ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open (men’s doubles) in Budapest.
Brass
2018: Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia (Mixed Doubles), Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia (Men’s Team)
2019: Seamaster ITTF World Tour Platinum, Australian Open in Geelong (men’s doubles), Seamaster ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open in Muscat (men’s singles)
Awards, Honors, Achievements
In 2017, he received the TOISA Table Tennis Player of the Year award (Jury Choice), and in 2018, he was awarded the Arjuna Award by the Government of India.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran while receiving the Arjuna Award in 2018
Facts/General Knowledge
- In his free time, he likes watching movies, listening to music, traveling to far-flung places and meeting his friends.
- Reportedly, in 2020, a ping-pong robot was imported from Germany by Sathiyan to practice table tennis at home during the COVID-19 pandemic as he wanted to stay sharp for his upcoming tournaments at home. Amid the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, he converted the terrace of his house into a sports hall and started personal training with the help of a local player, who assisted him in practice. They imported a table similar to the one used in the Olympics.
Practice hall at Sathiya Gnanasekaran’s house
- Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is associated with GoSports Foundation with a group of 19 athletes. This organization works under the leadership of former cricket player Rahul Dravid and his athlete mentorship program.
- He is quite active on various social media platforms. He has more than 27 thousand followers on Instagram. More than 54 thousand people follow his Facebook page. He often posts his photos and videos on social media. He has more than 10 thousand followers on his Twitter handle.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn