Sreeja Akula's quarter-final entry was the best performance by any Indian player at the WTT Star Contender Goa 2024.
Photo Credits: WTT
A record number of 41 Indian players participated in this edition of WTT Star Contender Goa. But, barring Sreeja Akula, none of the Indian paddlers could make any significant impact in the tournament with star paddlers – Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra, Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran – all making early round exits.
Sreeja was the only Indian girl standing tall as others kept losing their matches. Sreeja's quarter-final entry was the best performance by any Indian player at the WTT Star Contender Goa 2024. Two other players – Manika and Archana Kamath – lost in the round of 16 in women's singles.
It was indeed a dream run for the 25-year-old paddler from Hyderabad who displayed some exceptional skill and determination. On the way to quarter-finals, Sreeja defeated some of the big names in world table tennis - Camille Lutz from France, followed by Egypt’s World No. 30 Hana Goda and then Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist and World No. 36 Hong Kong's Doo Hoi Kem in the pre-quarterfinals.
But, in the quarter-finals, world No. 18 Cheng I-Ching of Chinese Taipei proved too strong for Sreeja as she went down fighting 5-11, 11-7, 6-11, 4-11. In fact, Cheng I-Ching went on to win the tournament.
It was indeed a commendable performance by the Hyderabadi girl who hardly got any time to practise for this event as she landed directly in Goa after taking a long flight from Texas, USA where she won her maiden international title.
Sreeja also participated in women’s doubles but, partnering Diya Chitale, lost in the quarter-finals to World No.4 pair from Chinese Taipei Cheng I-Ching and Li Yu-Jhun in straight games 9-11, 8-11, 8-11.
Maiden international title
Earlier in the year, Sreeja won her maiden international title at WTT Feeder Corpus Christi 2024 in Texas, USA. On her way to the final, she defeated two higher-ranked players, including three-time Olympian and world No. 46 Lily Zhang, a Chinese-origin player from USA, 11-6, 18-16, 11-5 in the final.
In the semi-finals, the Indian table tennis player beat Jiangshan Guo of USA 3-2 (9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 10-12, 11-9) while in the quarters, Sreeja beat top-seed and World No. 37 Amy Wang of USA, with a 3-2 (11-9, 9-11, 11-1, 6-11, 11-9) scoreline. Earlier in the tournament, Sreeja had defeated world No. 122 Stephanie Ouellette of France 3-0 in the round of 16 and Yao Tang of USA 3-0 in the round of 32.
The title boosted Sreeja‘s confidence and this reflected in her performance at the WTT Star Contender in Goa.
Boost in rankings
Sreeja, who is a two-time national champion and 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist in mixed doubles event, was ranked 94th in women’s singles before her maiden international title at Corpus Christi, Texas. The win enabled her to rise to a career-high World No. 66 in the world rankings, making her the second-highest-ranked Indian women’s singles player after Manika Batra (World No. 38).
Following her exploits at the WTT Star Contender Goa 2024, Sreeja’s rankings are expected to go up further and she could break into top-50 in the world rankings. The next target for the promising paddler will be to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
