Sathiyan Gnanasekaran signs up for French Pro-A league to prepare for Paris Olympics

With his eyes set on the 2024 Paris Olympics, World No. 33 Indian table tennis star Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has signed up for the top tier French Pro A league for the 2022-23 season where he will be playing for the Jura Morez Tennis de Table club.

Making the big announcement on his Instagram as the 1000th post, the Tokyo-returned paddler shared his joy of coming onboard the Jura Morez club and making his debut in France by playing in this prestigious league.

At the Tokyo Olympics, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran had put up a spirited fight but could not progress beyond Round 2 against Hong Kong's Lam Siu Han, in a match that went the full length, resulting in heartbreak from the Chennai paddler.

However, since Tokyo, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has been lapping up to wins alright, especially with 2 bronze medals from the Asian Table Tennis Championships 2021, among other medal wins.

In good form and enjoying a pretty consistent run on the tour, the 29-year-old table tennis player is now ready to play for Jura Morez in the French Pro A league. Being held since 1932, the French Pro A league is one of the best in Europe and has 10 teams featuring some of the world's best players in them. The teams, as of now, are AS Pontoise-Cergy, Caen TTC, GV Hennebont, Istres, Jura Morez TT, La Romagne, Les Loup d'Angers, Saint Denis US 93 TT, SPO Rouen TT and Villeneuve PPC.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will be donning the jersey of Jura Morez when he makes his French debut for the league and hopes to gain much-needed experience to prepare for the Paris Olympics in 2024.