India’s ace table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran continued his good run in the Polish Superliga by winning his eighth league match on Wednesday night. In a thrilling encounter, the 28-year-old Gnanasekaran defeated Jiri Vrablik 3-2 to help Jaroslaw score a 3-1 win over Dekorglass Dzialdowo in the first leg of the semi-finals. “The second leg will be played on Sunday. We hope to sustain our efforts in the away match,” he told IANS from Poland.

The stint at Polish Superliga is part of his preparation for the Tokyo Olympics beginning July 23. “Despite lockdown and challenging conditions in Poland, the professional league has turned out to be a good platform to polish my competitive skills,” he said.

Last month, Gnanasekaran was one of the two Indian men’s table tennis players to qualify for Olympics during the Asian qualification tournament in Doha.

Achanta Sharath Kamal is the other Indian to make Olympic cut in men’s category.