WTT Star Contender Goa: Sreeja’s dream run ends in quarterfinals

Mapusa: Sreeja Akula landed in Goa with her maiden international title in her bag and a career high world ranking of 66.

Making the long journey from Texas after winning the World Table Tennis (WTT) Feeder, the Hyderabad paddler missed her connecting flight from Doha and arrived here just hours before the qualifiers for the main draw of the WTT Star Contender Goa. She didn’t fret; instead, partnering Snehit Suravajulla, the Indian duo stunned world No. 27 pairing of Yew En Koen Pang and Xin Ru Wong (Singapore).

From there started a dream run for the 25-year-old paddler that ended only in the women’s singles quarterfinals on Saturday.

Along the way, Sreeja floored some established names. There was Camille Lutz from France, then followed Africa’s top table tennis player and world number 30 Hana Goda. But her biggest triumph came against Hong Kong’s Olympic bronze medallist Doo Hoi Kem in the pre-quarterfinal clash.

Playing with a mix caution and aggression, Sreeja, who defeated world no. 35 Amy Wang and world no. 46 Lilly Zhang in Texas, never lost sight of the target. She won a tightly-contested first game at 12-10, then lost four points in a row to surrender the second game at 8-11, but picked up pace in the next two to wrap up the match at 11-8, 11-8.

Doo Hoi Kem, who won a cherished bronze medal in the women’s team championship at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, was so rattled by Sreeja’s performance that she needlessly argued with the referee and picked up the yellow card.

“I am really happy to win this match,” Sreeja told reporters after the match. “In 2021, I had lost to the same opponent, so it feels really great to win a match against her in this tournament.

“I was able to execute my plans perfectly and kept myself motivated even after losing the second game to win the contest. She was really aggressive. I focused on putting the ball on the table and choosing the right ball to attack which worked in my favour.”

Sreeja had more work to do later in the day.

With the quarterfinal clash scheduled for later in the evening, she had to go back to her hotel room, get some rest, watch videos of her opponent online and return to the Peddem sports complex in Mapusa for another battle. This time, world no. 18 Cheng I-ching of Chinese Taipei proved too strong as she cruised to a 11-5, 7-11, 11-6, 11-4 victory.

Sreeja’s quarterfinal entry was the best performance by any Indian player at the WTT Star Contender Goa with two other players – Manika Batra and Archana Kamath – both losing out at the last-16 stage in women’s singles.

While top-ranked Manika (world rank 38) went down fighting 1-3 (11-9, 11-13, 7-11, 9-11) against world no. 13 Xiaoxin Yang of Monaco, Archana Kamath had her moments but could not overcome the challenge of Korea Republic's Jeon Jihee as she lost 11-13, 11-9, 6-11, 4-11.

After her giant-killing performances here in Goa, Sreeja is now set for another career high rank, a just reward for someone who constantly took everyone by surprise.