Next target Asian Games, Olympics medal: India's TT star Sathiyan Gnanasekaran
Kolkata, April 25: On cloud nine after bagging medals of every hue at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, India's highest-ranked table tennis star Sathiyan Gnanasekaran now eyes podium finishes at the upcoming Jakarta Asian Games and the 2020 Olympics.
Starting the year as the 46th ranked player, India's highest, Sathiyan grabbed a team gold, men's doubles silver (with Achanta Sharath Kamal) and mixed doubles bronze (Manika Batra) at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
India finished the discipline collecting eight medals, including three gold, two silver and three bronze pieces in Gold Coast.
"With this confidence I think we can win a medal in the Asian Games. That would be fantastic. Winning a medal in Asian Games is as good as winning a medal in the Olympic Games," Sathiyan told IANS in a telephonic interview.
The Asian Games will be held from August 18 to September 2 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Tokyo is the host city of the Olympics two years from now.
"If we win a medal in Asian Games, we have a really good chance of winning a medal in the Olympic Games as well," he said.
India had picked up five medals at the Delhi CWG in 2010. The 2014 Glasgow Games was a poor outing with only Sharath managing a silver in the company of A. Amalraj in men's doubles.
At the Gold Coast, the Indian squad surpassed our expectations, according to Sathiyan.
"We did a great job. We were actually expecting a good performance. We surpassed our expectations. I should accept that," said Sathiyan, 25.
"We have done really, really well. We wanted to equal our performance of 2010. We were looking forward for that and had our goals set," the Chennai youth added.
"But I think we went beyond expectations, winning medals in all the events. This is phenomenal. We did better than what we thought we could."
Sathiyan said their show at such a big stage as the CWG made people sit up and take notice of table tennis in India. But in the last few years, they have been taking giant strides in the right direction.
"The Games is something big. So it (our achievement) is being seen on a bigger scale now. But the sport itself, the players have grown a lot in the last few years," said Sathiyan, who won gold in the Spanish Open last year.
"We won medals in pro tours and our rankings have also improved. These are all signs that something big is waiting to happen. It's been a process. Me, Harmeet (Desai) and (Soumyajit) Ghosh started playing abroad very early in our careers. Sharath (Kamal) has set the benchmark for what a player can achieve with hard work."
Sathiyan also put it down to team bonding and the fact that the core group of Sharath, Harmeet, Mouma Das and Manika Batra have been playing together for some time now.
"The team has become formidable now. The bonding was very high as we came up the ranks together from junior to senior. The bigger goal is an Olympic medal now. That is the team vision," he said.
Heaping praise on Manika, who won four medals including two gold, one silver and a bronze to become the Games' most successful Indian athlete, Sathiyan said she has done women's table tennis a world of good.
"There was so much quality and that kind of stamina...she had matches on the same day. After losing a very close mixed doubles semi-final, it's hard to come back and perform the way she did. She has set an example for women's table tennis which has been in the shadows I would say," he felt.
Sathiyan signed off by crediting his personal coach and former national champion S. Raman for transforming him as a player.
"He has been phenomenal as he helped me become more aggressive and I improved a lot tactially and technically under him. He has been a big influence in my career," Sathiyan concluded.
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US vetoes Palestinian bid to gain statehood at the United Nations
United Nations, Apr 19: The US has vetoed a resolution in the UN Security Council on the latest Palestinian bid to be granted full membership of the United Nations, an outcome lauded by Israel but criticised by Palestine as “unfair, immoral, and unjustified".
The 15-nation Council voted on a draft resolution Thursday that would have recommended to the 193-member UN General Assembly “that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.”
The resolution got 12 votes in its favour, with Switzerland and the UK abstaining and the US casting its veto.
To be adopted, the draft resolution required at least nine Council members voting in its favour, with no vetoes by any of its five permanent members - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Palestinian attempts for recognition as a full member state began in 2011. Palestine is currently a non-member observer state, a status that was granted in November 2012 by the UN General Assembly.
This status allows Palestine to participate in proceedings of the world body but it cannot vote on resolutions. The only other non-member Observer State at the UN is the Holy See, representing the Vatican.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz praised the US for vetoing what he called a “shameful proposal.”
“The proposal to recognise a Palestinian state, more than 6 months after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and after the sexual crimes and other atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists was a reward for terrorism”, Katz wrote on X, after the US veto.
US Ambassador Robert Wood, Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs, said in the explanation of the vote at the Security Council meeting on Palestinian membership that Washington continues to strongly support a two-state solution.
“It remains the US view that the most expeditious path toward statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the support of the United States and other partners,” he said.
“This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgement that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties.”
Wood said there are “unresolved questions” as to whether Palestine meets the criteria to be considered a State.
“We have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas - a terrorist organisation - is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza, an integral part of the state envisioned in this resolution,” he said, adding that “For these reasons, the United States voted “no” on this Security Council resolution.”
Wood noted that since the October 7 attacks last year against Israel by Hamas, US President Joe Biden has been clear that sustainable peace in the region can only be achieved through a two-state solution, with Israel’s security guaranteed.
"There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and future as a democratic Jewish state. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live in peace and with dignity in a state of their own. And there is no other path that leads to regional integration between Israel and all its Arab neighbours, including Saudi Arabia,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, sharply criticised the US veto, saying that it was “unfair, immoral, and unjustified, and defies the will of the international community, which strongly supports the State of Palestine obtaining full membership in the United Nations.”
Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, said that “our right to self-determination has never once been subject to bargaining or negotiation.
“Our right to self-determination is a natural right, a historic right, a legal right. A right to live in our homeland Palestine as an independent state that is free and that is sovereign. Our right to self-determination is inalienable...,” he said.
Getting emotional and choking up as he made the remarks, Mansour said that a majority of the Council members “have risen to the level of this historic moment” and have stood “on the side of justice, freedom and hope.”
He asserted that Palestine’s admission as a full member of the UN is an “investment in peace.”
On April 2, 2024, Palestine again sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres requesting that its application for full UN membership be considered again.
For a State to be granted full UN membership, its application must be approved both by the Security Council and the General Assembly, where a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting is required for the State to be admitted as a full member.
Earlier in the day, Guterres, in his remarks to a Council meeting on the Middle East, warned that the region is on a “knife edge”.
“Recent escalations make it even more important to support good-faith efforts to find lasting peace between Israel and a fully independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian state,” Guterres said.
“Failure to make progress towards a two-state solution will only increase volatility and risk for hundreds of millions of people across the region, who will continue to live under the constant threat of violence,” he said.
The UN, citing the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said that between October 7 last year and April 17, at least 33,899 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 76,664 Palestinians injured. Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 33 children, have been killed in Israel, the vast majority on October 7.
As of April 17, Israeli authorities estimate that 133 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including fatalities whose bodies are withheld.
