Sreeja Akula was keen, and a table was all she needed for her plan to play-all-day.
Having grown an insatiable appetite for her sport, the first-time Olympian had wanted Table Tennis’ version of an all-you-can-eat buffet when she headed to Chinese Taipei to train. Three practice sessions spanning 12 hours, including one post dinner, against 20 opponents with varying playing styles, was the Hyderabadi’s three-course fill before she set out to Paris.
“When you travel for tournaments, you have timing slots to practice. But I wanted just to be at the table the entire day. I wanted to play against various types of opponents. I wanted nothing but table tennis for more than a week,” Sreeja had told Indian Express. And that’s exactly what she got.
India’s No. 1 paddler has had a whirlwind eight months leading up to the Paris Olympics. From doubting herself, to becoming the first Indian to win a WTT tournament, to beating a top Chinese player, to adding another WTT title; all the while suffering from a tennis elbow problem, she has been through it all. And silently.
Now, nhing can distract her from her ultimate goal – medalling at the Olympics.
And she’s leaving no stone unturned to fulfill her goal. In April, she had a high-intensity 12-day training camp in Chinese Taipei where she sparred with 15-16 year-olds. When she was struggling with her tennis elbow problem, she immediately sought help from Strength & Conditioning (S&C) experts from the famed Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.
Fully fit now, Sreeja is ready to lead the Indian women’s team comprising her, Manika Batra and Archana Kamath at the Paris Games in their debut at the Olympics. Considering their fabulous performances in WTT events and at the ITTF World Team Championships in Busan earlier this year, a lot is expected from the women’s team. Sreeja, who’s currently the highest-ranked amongst them at No. 25 in the world, knows that she has to play a pivotal role. “She’s very motivated. She knows she has the quality and the game to perform at the highest level,” says Somnath Ghosh, her coach of 14 years.
When Sreeja won her first women’s singles title at a World Table Tennis (WTT) event — the Corpus Christi Feeder tournament at the start of the year — she didn’t really think much of it.
It was a great way to start an Olympic year, but Sreeja knew that Paris was a long way off and she was still far from her best. In fact, before her win at Corpus Christi, Sreeja admitted that she doubted herself on the world stage. “I was getting great results in the domestic circuit, but internationally I couldn’t get the results I wanted,” she had told this newspaper.
With her confidence back after Corpus Christi, Sreeja did well to reach the quarterfinal of the WTT Star Contender in Goa. It was, however, the World Team Championships that changed everything for her.
In what was a historic day for Indian table tennis, Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja beat the Chinese World No. 1 and World No. 2 respectively. Though they lost the overall tie, suddenly the world was talking about Indian women’s TT.
“After that win, we knew that everyone would be watching us now. Not just watching, they would be expecting us to do well too. It motivates you to do better and to improve. The Olympics coming, was just added motivation,” Sreeja told The Indian Express recently.
Ghosh has seen Sreeja grow into a world-beater but says she has become a different beast in 2024. After all, she jumped 70 places from World No. 94 in January to her best ranking –World No. 24 in June.
“She’s willing to do everything and anything to improve. That’s the mindset of a champion,” Ghosh says.
TT to the T
After winning a Feeder II series in Beirut, Sreeja could’ve had a training camp with top Indian players at an academy in the country, but instead, she chose to travel to Chinese Taipei to spar with 15-16-year-olds.
“They have a phenomenal academy where upcoming youngsters focus only on table tennis,” says Ghosh, who accompanied her. “The schedule was such that she would wake up at 6.30 am and go running. Immediately after that was breakfast, and then practice till lunch. Then practice again till dinner and after that, another practice. It was 11-12 days of just that and she was so happy.”
Sreeja said it was refreshing to have so many sparring partners. “When we train here, we don’t have that many sparring partners but over there, we had players from all age groups. There were more than 20 15-16-year-olds who had amazing energy and drive. They also had varying playing styles that gave me great experience in the lead-up to the Olympics,” she said.
While the Chinese Taipei stint gave her incredible experience, it also bolstered her confidence to face any type of opponent. Her fearlessness was on display when she won the women’s singles and women’s doubles title at the WTT Contender in Lagos late last month.
Going into the Paris Games, Sreeja knows that there won’t be any 15-16-year-olds, but she says she no longer fears anyone. She brings the hunger to keep winning, to the table.