Why National Games singles champion Sathish Karunakaran trains in Kuala Lumpur

Shuttler K Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, 23, had all the energy to expend in his versatile pursuit of trying to win two completely different badminton events— Singles and Mixed Doubles. The ambition itself was a little extravagant, if not knackering at the top competition levels. But Sathish also wanted sparring options of players much more skilled than him for both himself and Mixed doubles partner, Aadya Variyath, who would adapt to his shape-shifting, role-swerving games. Very few coaching centres indulged in this experiment. He knew he had to head to Malaysia – to accommodate that voracious appetite for skills. Picked for the Asian Mixed Team championship in China, starting February 11 on a maiden call-up, Sathish (Singles rank of 48, XD rank of 33), is a rare contemporary success stories, choosing to set base outside India for badminton
The National Games final in Mixed Doubles and champion in Singles, on Tuesday at Dehradun, has moved bag and baggage to Kuala Lumpur’s second biggest facility, Asia Badminton Academy after failing to qualify in Mixed Doubles last Olympics. Aadya, 22, has followed, trying to get her Doubles career at the net, going.
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Coached second-generation Malaysian, M Jivanathan Nair, Sathish and Aadya are making the most of sharing court-sparring with the country’s well-known names, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzudin, who won India Open earlier in January, and Goh Wei Shem – Tan Wee Kiong, former World No 1s. “We completely shifted to Malaysia because we get quality sparring, good feeders there. It’s mostly Malaysia’s ‘B’ team, and there’s not much difference in training methods in the two countries. But I wanted to train with players who are my level or preferably higher,” Sathish explains.
Coach Jiva, who jokes he’s “getting to know India” through his wards, being born and brought up in Malaysia, says Sathish’s unique requirements of two events, has expertise and experienced coaching in Malaysia. “Frankly I was surprised because the same person playing doubles and Mixed doubles is fairly common, the current World champion Seo Syeung-jae is one. But Singles and Mixed are rare. Still, we have big names like Goh and Tan who straddled both singles and doubles in their early years. So Sathish’s pathway is mapped well,” the coach says.
Fusion of styles
As such, Sathish doesn’t train for two different events, Jiva says, but he does the typically Malaysian thing of infusing a boggling variety of both styles, in the same session. “In Mixed, his role is of the main player which has a lot of elements from singles. He trains for singles and brings those variations in mixed.”
The highly-touted tall player from Tamil Nadu originally, who spent few skills-sponging years in Bangalore, has a noticeably different singles game, with a lot of riffs of mid-court battles—where Malaysians are aces. “We are very focused on the 2028 Olympics but there’s short-term milestones which we will know realically in the first 8 months of 2025,” the coach adds. Story continues below this ad
One other thing both shuttlers are benefitting from is recovery-science where the two top Malaysian academies are doing some cutting-edge work, as was seen in Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik picking the Olympic MD medal. “With two events, Sathish’s recovery is a definite challenge with hectic schedules. But we have incredible science here, a dedicated regime and careful planning for them,” Jiva says.
A large part of bringing fluency to Sathish’s game has been getting him to back his variations, applying them at key moments. “I’m not too happy with his confidence levels on variations which need to become muscle memory. He needs to be dynamic and adapt to the opponent. But he likes taking risks and is generally attacking. Dedicated and professional, so I like that,” Jiva says.
“I’m there with a full team, S&C coach, physio, and mind trainer. Focus is on improving strokes,” Sathish says, of why he returned to Kuala Lumpur where he first trained for a month at 16 back in the day.
The tall shuttler started out as a defensive player, who still digs slow courts (another rarity in India). “I’m getting far more attacking in Malaysia, Story continues below this ad
The struggle is a tad tougher for Aadya, who needs far more power and chutzpah at the net, though she has natural speed. “Aadya is going through a different transformation. We are pushing her out front a lot more, and asking her to increase the percentage of her role and take more responsibility especially when she’s peppered with shuttles from the opposite guy,” Jiva says.
Malaysian female mixed doubles players tend to be more aggressive and creative. “The match personality needs to come out,” Jiva says. It’s where flair is fiery.