<p>World number 30 G Sathiyan on Saturday became the first Indian to sign for Japan's premier table tennis league -- the T League.</p>.<p>Sathiyan will be representing Okayama Rivets in the league, which began in 2018 and is the first ever professional league in Japan. The switch to Japan for India's top-ranked paddler comes after two fruitful seasons in Germany.</p>.<p>Sathiyan had won the German Cup with his club ASV Grunwettersbasch last month.</p>.<p>"I made the decision to move out of Germany as Japan is much better for practice and the level is higher than Europe," Sathiyan told PTI.</p>.<p>He will be playing alongside and against some of the the world's leading players including world number five Harimoto Tomokazu and former world number four Jun Mizutani.</p>.<p>Among the foreign players taking part in the league are world number six Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei and 20th-ranked Lee Sangsu from South Korea.</p>.<p>Besides Okayama Rivets, TT Saitama, Kinoshita Meister Tokyo and Ryukyu Asteeda are the other teams in the competition. </p>
<p>World number 30 G Sathiyan on Saturday became the first Indian to sign for Japan's premier table tennis league -- the T League.</p>.<p>Sathiyan will be representing Okayama Rivets in the league, which began in 2018 and is the first ever professional league in Japan. The switch to Japan for India's top-ranked paddler comes after two fruitful seasons in Germany.</p>.<p>Sathiyan had won the German Cup with his club ASV Grunwettersbasch last month.</p>.<p>"I made the decision to move out of Germany as Japan is much better for practice and the level is higher than Europe," Sathiyan told PTI.</p>.<p>He will be playing alongside and against some of the the world's leading players including world number five Harimoto Tomokazu and former world number four Jun Mizutani.</p>.<p>Among the foreign players taking part in the league are world number six Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei and 20th-ranked Lee Sangsu from South Korea.</p>.<p>Besides Okayama Rivets, TT Saitama, Kinoshita Meister Tokyo and Ryukyu Asteeda are the other teams in the competition. </p>