Two-time National champion Sreeja Akula clinched the women’s singles title at the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi, her maiden international trophy.
Two-time National champion Sreeja Akula clinched the women’s singles title at the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi, her maiden international trophy, to start the new season on a promising note. The Indian paddler defeated the World No. 46 Lily Zhang of the USA 3-0 (11-6, 18-16, 11-5) in the final on Thursday night.
“I am immensely pleased, and my efforts got me where I wanted to be. It’s my maiden international title, and I have earned it after two close calls in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the tournament. Both (Amy and Lily) were higher-ranked players and I played well against them,” she said after the final.
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Sreeja Akula was dominant in the first game, putting the opponent under pressure right from the start with her free-flowing shots, some of which had no response. She twice hit wide at the right corner of Lily’s table and the American failed to breach the net both times as the Indian extended the lead to 5-2. The first game was wrapped up in six minutes.
Lily attempted to make a strong comeback with her sharp shots and angular moments to take a 4-1 lead in the second game before Sreeja clawed her way back to hold the edge at 5-4. The battle was forced to deuce and at advantage, it was an intense one with both players leaving no stone unturned to stay in the game. However, Sreeja ensured to take the two-point lead after she denied five game points to the American paddler.
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The third game seemed a walk in the park for the two-time Indian national champion, with the sidespin mixed with the forehand spell doing the tricks. Apart from erring in one of her serves, Sreeja Akula was relentless as she bagged six points in the second half of the break.
Sreeja Akula is the reigning national champion in Women’s singles and doubles table tennis, having won them at the 83rd Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships, held in April 2022. Subsequently, she was the runner-up in national Women’s singles in the previous edition, losing to Manika Batra.
Moreover, she was also a part of the Indian team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games where she won gold medal in mixed doubles event with Sharath Kamal. She was the gold medalist in Women’s Doubles and Women’s Team events in Table tennis at the 2019 South Asian Games.
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