UTT | Dabang Delhi benefits from Sathiyan-Raman union

Raman and Sathiyan have worked wonders with Dabang Delhi.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO: S.R. Raghunathan

One of the features of the first five editions of the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) was the Indian coaches preferring to pick their personal wards in their own team through the annual player draft. For the current edition, however, with the player auction being held for the first time, most such favourite pairs have been separated.

But for the first time in in the franchise league, G. Sathiyan has been united with his personal coach S. Raman. And the successful combination has worked wonders with Dabang Delhi TTC having assured itself of a place in the semifinals with a match to spare.

“To have your personal coach on the bench is always an added advantage. It’s just not the personal coach, but as a coach you can really change things around with your perspective. And Raman sir fits the bill on every count for Dabang Delhi,” Sathiyan told The Hindu.

“You don’t need any introduction to Raman sir’s achievements as a coach, so they (Dabang management) were happy to pick him without a thought. I am really happy that he could be there since you can only have one Indian coach in the side. He has played a huge role in creating a comfort zone for the players.”

Raman, the former National champion who runs a successful centre of excellence in Chennai, had for some reason stayed away from joining the UTT. So did Sathiyan find it more challenging to convince his coach to join the bandwagon or the team owners to appoint him?

“Convincing Dabangg was much easier,” Sathiyan said, with a cheeky smile. “Raman sir always wanted to be involved in UTT but with scheduling and everything, it wasn’t to be so far. This time around, I really wanted him. The first time I asked him he said ‘OK, let’s close this time’ and it’s worked out well for the team.”