National games mumbai teen modi stuns sathiyan

National games mumbai teen modi stuns sathiyan

Mumbai: Mumbai’s 19-year-old paddler Jash Modi reckons he has richer medals to show than a National Games gold in singles, but the victory that fetched him the title was the biggest of his career so far.

That’s because the youngster defeated G Sathiyan, the Tokyo Olympian and former top 25 in the world, in the men’s singles final to be crowned the 2025 National Games champion in Dehradun on Thursday. The title clash went the distance, with Modi keeping his composure to overcome a two-game deficit and a sixth-game blip and eke out a 4-3 (7-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 14-12, 6-11, 11-6) win over his seasoned opponent.

“It’s the biggest win of my career, simply because it was Sathiyan at the other end,” Modi said. “I was well prepared tactically. He had a lot of pressure, because I was the underdog. And that helped me win.”

The teen, who was part of India’s U-19 bronze medal winning team at the 2024 Asian Youth TT Championship, had bagged a couple of bronze medals at the previous National Games in Goa (team and mixed doubles). This gold though is his first significant triumph since moving from the youth to senior circuit last year.

“This win will give me a lot of confidence since I’ve only recently transitioned to playing seniors. I’ve improved a lot physically over the last few years, and this will only push me further,” he said.

Modi grew up playing TT in Mumbai and was initially coached by his father Amit. Since the last four years, he has been training under coach Sanmay Paranjape in Pune. The youngster hopes to progress to competing on the WTT circuit soon but doesn’t have the finances currently to travel for it, he says.

“I receive some monetary support from GAIL, but don’t have sponsors. It’s tough to play WTT events on your own. So right now, I’m looking to play well at the domestic level, and then hopefully find some support and progress from there,” he said.