Experience meets youthful ambition this week at India’s 82nd Senior National Table Tennis Championships, spanning February 14-23 in the city of Panchkula. The respective roles will be played by Sharath Kamal Achanta (pictured, left) Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (right), the longtime doubles partners due to commence men's singles competition on Friday. Achanta, 38, holds the record for most national men's singles titles with nine. The portrait of consistency, he regained the top ranking in India at world #32 after winning the Oman Open, the last international tournament before the COVID-19 lockdown last spring. The 28-year-old Gnanasekaran became the first player from India to crack the world's top-25 ranking, reaching #24 in 2019. Although he has slid back to #37, he is considered India's best hope for medals at the Olympic and World Championships. Despite his obvious talents, he has yet to claim his first national singles crown despite three previous trips to the finals. Despite their lofty rankings, no one is going to just give them the title. World #73 Harmeet Desai is the defending champion and has no plans for a peaceful transition of power. In addition to the inherent glory of the storied tournament, the national championships also serve as a tune-up for the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) Middle East Hub, running March 3-13. The WTT offers back-to-back tournaments in Doha, Qatar, with outsize prize money and ratings points on offer. These ratings points may, in turn, figure prominently in Olympic qualification, a subject on the minds of Achanta and Gnanasekaran alike. A sub-par performance from both stars at the 2020 World Team Qualification Event left them on the outside looking in to the Tokyo Olympics. After the WTT, the duo will have chances to qualify for Tokyo in singles qualification tournaments, conveniently located in Doha. The World Singles Qualification Tournament runs March 14-17, followed by the Asia Qualification Event March 18-20. Achanta and Gnanasekaran will be competing for only seven spots between the two qualifiers. Failing those, the final Olympic selections will be made according to world ranking. "It will be tiring," says Gnanasekaran. "I am prepared. I hope I can tick both my boxes of winning the nationals and secure a berth for the Olympics." Is this the year the ambitious Sathiyan Gnanasekaran finally breaks through to win his first national title, or will his more experienced doubles partner Sharath Kamal Achanta reach double digits? Only time will tell. Stay tuned!

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