Japan-bound Sathiyan seeking rich exposure

NEW DELHI: After his winning return to action in the Polish Superliga, G Sathiyan is excited to travel to Japan to take part in the T-League where he will represent Okayama Rivets. Scheduled to play eight matches, the World No 32 is also looking forward to training with the cream of the crop in Tokyo.

The 27-year-old, who is in the process of receiving his visa, is planning to leave on November 23 and will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine there before playing his first match on December 10. Apart from the matches, he will rub shoulders with the likes of Koki Niwa (World No 13), Morizono Masataka (World No 48) and Lee Sangsu (22), who are part of the same team as the Indian paddler apart from a couple more in the top 200.

“The matches start from December 10 and will continue till December 24. I will be there till December 30...so I will be getting a lot of quality practice time. And matches against top-10 players will be highly beneficial especially with no tournaments on the horizon. And training with such a quality bunch in top class facilities is something that will be of immense help for my career,” he said.

Due to visa complications, flight restrictions and quarantine time, the Chennai athlete will miss out on the first four matches of the league. And it will be a complicated process of getting ready for the first match due to the stop-start nature of training. “After Poland, I’m currently undergoing mandatory home quarantine. Once I reach Japan, I will have to remain in isolation for another 14 days. The club officials over there are trying to come up with a way in which I can train alone after a couple of days. These gaps are not ideal but amidst the pandemic, I’m lucky to be able to get the chance to play, so no complaints from my end!”

But the growing rate of infections has affected the scheduling of all leagues. In Sathiyan’s case, there is no clarity as to when the second half of the T-League will happen while the Polish league has not come out with the play-offs calendar. “2021 will be an unknown entity! Usually these leagues publish their schedules up to two years in advance, but it cannot be helped this time around. There is no point in planning too far ahead and I have to take it one day at a time.”