CHENNAI: A Few days before winning the historic mixed doubles gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games alongside legendary Sharath Kamal, Sreeja Akula celebrated her 24th birthday in Birmingham's Athlete Village. Now close to celebrating the first anniversary of the event, the young paddler will again be on the road, this time preparing for her first-ever appearance at the Asian Games.
"I am happy to make the squad," Akula told this daily after making it to the 10-member squad announced by the Table Tennis Federation of India for the event in Hangzhou. In China, she will compete in three categories including mixed doubles alongside Harmeet Desai and Women's Doubles with her nationals partner Diya Chitale.
The 24-year-old from Hyderabad and a young paddler from Mumbai share a close bond. "We have been playing a few tournaments together from the last year and I think we are getting better and better with every tournament. I am happy playing with her and we are looking forward to this experience."
Along with Chitale and Akula, the Indian women's team consists of Manika Batra, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee. The young athlete believes the group's relationship will help them achieve more success in world events. " It's a very unique team because we have different kinds of styles of play," she added.
The group will participate in the Asian Championship in Korea between September 3 and 10. The paddler hopes to make the most of the opportunity there as well. "I think that tournament is going to give good exposure to everyone because it's just before the Asian Games. It is important for us to win medals in the Asian Championship because that is also a very high-ranked event."
In March 2023, Akula successfully defended her singles title in the Inter-State Senior National Table Tennis Championships held in Jammu. She thinks the competitive National Championship will help Indian players raise the bar at the international level. "I think, the quality of Indian table tennis is high now. The quality is increasing here in the domestic events and (because of that) we are also able to perform well in the international event."
"It's not just the top five or top six players, but everybody like even the top 16 and juniors, everybody is giving a tough fight to top senior players. Juniors are also playing well and many upsets are happening in the zonal events where juniors are also defeating the seniors. That just shows that the quality of Indian table tennis is growing day by day," she said.
Even with the ever-evolving game of table tennis in India, Akula is training with her coach, Somnath Ghosh, for the last 14 years. "It has been a long journey for us. We, alongside my fitness trainer Hirak Bagchi, were working through the lockdown as well. I can say he was always there in my good and bad times. He always keeps telling me that game is just part of life and his support means a lot," emotional Akula said.
The young player will be traveling again, and she believes she couldn't have done it without the support of her family. "For me honestly, it is very difficult to stay away from home because I keep feeling homesick very often. But this is the life of the Sportsperson, I guess. My parents always keep supporting me and my sister is my motivation," she mentioned.
Squad:
Men: A. Sharath Kamal, G. Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah.
Reserve: SFR Snehit, Sanil Shetty.
Women: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Ayhika Mukherjee and Diya Chitale.
Reserve: Archana Kamath, Reeth Rishya.
Men's Doubles: A. Sharath Kamal/G. Sathiyan and Manav Thakkar/Manush Shah.
Women's Doubles: Sutirtha Mukherjee/Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula/Diya Chitale.
Mixed Doubles: Manika Batra/G. Sathiyan and Sreeja Akula/Harmeet Desai.