Paris Olympics: Sreeja Akula out to prove a point

Paddler wants to make the most of her first Olympic outing
At first glance, Sreeja Akula would pass for a regular girl next door. But give her a table tennis racquet and the wisp of a girl is transformed. The paddler is in a happy space given her recent string of victories and is confident of upsetting the applecart when she makes her debut at the Paris Olympic Games.

The 25-year-old is the first Indian to win the WTT Contender title in Lagos. She is also the country's No.1 ranked paddler and the highest ranked Indian in the world at No. 25, ahead of Manika Batra at No. 28. "It is a very special performance for me coming so close to the Olympics," Sreeja said of the WTT title. "I am really glad the way I have been training and playing in the recent past."

Sreeja is so confident of her abilities now that she fancies her chances of an Olympic medal. "It is my dream to play in the Olympics. This is my first experience of the Olympics and I am thrilled. I want to give my best and record upset victories. I am thinking about winning a medal. But I don't want to put myself under pressure thinking about it. I want to take one match at a time," she said after she qualified for the Games.

Sreeja's recent run gives hope. The reigning two-time national champion made it a double in Lagos as she complemented her singles title with the doubles crown along with Archana Kamath. She stunned over world No. 2 Wang Yidi of China at the 2023 ITTF World Team Championship, won the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi singles title and registered a morale-boosting win over rising star Ding Yijie at the WTT Contender this year.

She is also in the record books for having won a mixed doubles gold along with Sharath Kamal at the Common wealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. It was India's first CWG gold in TT.

Still, Sreeja has been untiring in her efforts to get better. "For the past two years, I have been working on improving my mental strength. That's the first aspect I have improved, especially in 2024. I am mentally well prepared to play against any opponent. I have also been working on my strength and conditioning, especially to prevent injuries and to improve my agility on the table. That made a lot of difference in my game," she elaborated.

While the focus will be on doubles as India are trying to make a mark in the team events at the Olympics, Sreeja is also working on getting her coach Somnath Ghosh the accreditation that will allow him to be by her side during the match. Sreeja has trained with Somnath for nearly 14 years. "His presence will help me a lot during the matches since he knows my game from my childhood," she said.

Somnath was happy to be allowed into the training area. "I am happy to get accreditation to accompany Sreeja to the training area, if not for matches. That will do a world of good. She has been training hard here. I am hopeful that she will give her best and achieve good results," Somnath told TOI from Saarbrucken, Germany, where the Indian contingent is undergoing rigorous training under the watchful eyes of Italian chief coach Massimo Costantini.

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