"I believe that things will only get better from here," he said adding “I think this is the Golden era of Indian table tennis. We're winning medals in every category, men, women, junior, sub-junior and even cadet. It’s amazing. India is a big force in world table tennis now.”

The 29-year-old, sees great promise and potential in the next line of players.

“In the last seven years, table tennis has transformed into a whole new sport. It’s probably one of the most-improved sports across the board in the country,” he said during a press conference on the opening day of the 36th National Games here on Tuesday.

Speaking about the National Games’ role in further improving table tennis, Sathiyan said, “The Games gave me a great platform in 2015, to know where I stood. When you compete in a multisport event, it’s a very different ball game. You learn a lot of things and they help us in bigger events like the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and the Olympics."

“For youngsters, it is a great platform to test their skills and test themselves under pressure,” he added.

Incidentally, in the last edition of the Games in Kerala, Sathiyan was part of the Tamil Nadu men’s team which had bagged the gold medal. This year, Tamil Nadu haven’t qualified for the eight-team event and he agrees that the sport has missed out on a potentially great clash against hosts Gujarat.

He is, however, keen to give his best in the individual event before heading for the World Championships in Chengdu.

“It is not going to be easy here as I am playing singles directly. But I have two days to get used to the conditions. I will practise a little bit and play my best in the Games,” he promised.