To bolster India's chances in the upcoming Olympics, the MYAS and the MOOC have approved the overseas training schedule of Sreeja Akula.
To bolster India’s chances in the upcoming Olympics, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and the Sports Mission Olympic Cell have approved the overseas training schedule of paddler Sreeja Akula. Moreover, young Indian judoka Tulika Mann has also been cleared to train overseas.
Sreeja Akula will train in Taipei for a period of 12 days under Coach Liu Jun-Lin and during her stay will also spar against various other paddlers at the club. A Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Akula will be provided with financial assistance for a training camp in Chinese Taipei. This is a revolutionary step for Akula considering the fact that many big tournaments are round the corner including the Paris 2024 Olympics.
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Sreeja has been in red hot form recently which prompted the authorities for her financial assistance. The 25-year-old Indian paddler recently won the women’s singles title at the WTT Feeder Beirut II. Akula defeated Luxembourg’s Sarah D Nutte 6-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-9 at the Al Kawthar Secondary School in Beirut, Lebanon. Moreover, she has also jumped to a career-high 40 in the ITTF rankings following the triumph.
Earlier, Akula has also won the Feeder Corpus Christi 2024 title in Texas. Interestingly, it was the maiden title for the Indian paddler and it is safe to say that Akula has found her purple patch at the right time.
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Besides Akula, Manav Thakkar and Payas Jain will also receive assistance for participation in table tennis competitions. While Thakkar will head to Havirov in the Czech Republic for a WTT Feeder event, Jain will compete in WTT Feeder events in Dusseldorf, Germany and Havirov.
Moreover, Thakkar recently won the men’s doubles event at WTT Feeder Beirut II in Lebanon with Manush Shah.
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Apart from Sreeja, the MOOC has also given a green signal to judoka Tulika Mann’s request or financial assistance towards participation in a Grand Slam event in Antalya, Turkey. Moreover, like Sreeja, Tulika will also be training abroad in Turkey for Olympics.
Maan has already won the silver medal in women’s 78kg judo event at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. Naturally, her eyes are fixated on changing the colour of the medal when she takes the centre stage in Paris.
The MOC also approved Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia’s request to extend the tenure of his strength and conditioning coach Kazi Kiron Mustafa Hasan till the end of May, when final selection trials for the Paris 2024 Olympics will take place.
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