Telangana’s Akula Sreeja defends national table tennis title

Sreeja successfully defended her singles crown defeating Sutirtha Mukherjee of West Bengal 4-2

Hyderabad: Telangana table tennis player and defending champion Akula Sreeja successfully defended her singles crown defeating Sutirtha Mukherjee of West Bengal 4-2 in the 84th UTT Inter-State Senior National Table Tennis Championships held at the Gymnasium Hall of Jammu University, on Monday.

The Commonwealth Games mixed team gold medallist from Hyderabad made it a memorable outing by also clinching women’s doubles title along with partner from Reserve Bank of India Diya Chatale with 3-1 win over Maharashtra’s Swastika Ghosh and Shruti Amrute. She then clinched mixed team bronze with Manush Shah to cap off a dominating show.

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In the men’s section, G Sathiyan claimed his second men’s singles national title without breaking a sweat and beat Harmeet Desai in straight games. He won the first crown in 2021, beating his old foe Sharath Kamal in Panchkula Nationals.

Sreeja was scratchy in the final. Whenever in trouble, she found a way to extricate herself from depth to do the unexpected. In other words, Sutirtha must own up to the blame for letting her RBI opponent off the hook and not making the most of the best situations in the final. She was in hot form and had her forehand going well, executing some unbelievable crosscourt shots.

Sreeja was relentless in her attack. She did what was expected of her, particularly after she became the darling of the Indian crown when she and Sharath Kamal combined to win the first CWG mixed gold in Birmingham last year.

Though she won the first game, she should have taken at least two of three games as she held two game points in each. But Sreeja’s boldness and passive play Sutirtha changed the complexion and gave Sreeja a lease of life. Yet, the West Bengal woman, a former national champion, failed to press home the advantage, including in the sixth game, in which Sreeja won 14-12 to laugh her way to the bank with a prize purse of Rs. 2.75 lakh.

Results: Women’s Singles: Final: Sreeja Akula (RBI) bt Sutirtha Mukherjee (WB) 9-11, 14-12, 11-7, 13-11, 6-11, 12-10;

Women’s Doubles: Final: Sreeja Akula/Diya Chitale (RBI) bt Swastika Ghosh/Shruti Amrute (Mah) 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 14-12;

Semis: Sreeja Akula/Diya Chitale bt Prapti Sen/Poymantee Baisya (WB) 11-6, 11-5, 2-11, 11-5; Swastika Ghosh/Shruti Amrute bt Radhapriya Goel/Nithyashree Mani (AAI) 11-4, 11-2, 3-11, 15-13;

Mixed Doubles: Final: Manav Thakkar/Archana Kamath (PSPB) bt Ankur Bhattacharjee/Moumita Datta (WB) 11-5, 14-12, 11-3;

Semis: Ankur Bhattacahrjee/Moumita Datta bt G. Sathiyan/Manika Batra (PSPB) 11-6, 11-0, 11-0; Manav Thakkar/Archana Kamath bt Manush Shah/Sreja Akula (RBI) 11-9, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5.

Men’s Singles: Final: G. Sathiyan (PPB) bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5.