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India's Table Tennis women's singles star Sreeja Akula started her Paris Olympics 2024 campaign with an 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 and 11-8 win in 28 minutes over Swedish star Christina Kallberg. Akula entered the Summer Games in Paris as India's hig hest-ranked player. 2024 has been a great year for the 25-year-old from Hyderabad as she won the WTT Contender title in Lagos. Coming back to the South Paris Arena 4, Akula didn't let her previous loss against Kallberg from WTT Contender Rio de Janerio affect her psyche as she got off to an incredible start.
The Indian paddler zoomed through the first game to register an 11-4 win with a barrage of fierce forehand shots and her trademark turn and smash. The second game was a topsy-turvy affair with the Swede starting with quick points but Akula got back into the contest before Kallberg levelled the scores at 9-9. This late rally wasn't enough as the Indian picked up consecutive points to clinch an 11-9 victory.
Game 3 saw Sreeja Akula build on her winning momentum to take a sizeable lead which was soon cut short by Kallberg but the Indian star held her own and won with an 11-7 margin. Eyeing a whitewash, the 16th-seeded paddler took a 4-2 lead when her Swedish opponent called a timeout. Akula, after the break zoomed through to clinch Game 4 with an 11-8 margin and with the game in stunning fashion.
The last two years have been incredible for Akula with the 25-year-old cementing herself in the upper echelon of Indian Table Tennis. In 2022, she clinched the gold in mixed doubles at the Commonwealth Games with Sharath Kamal. In 2024, Akula was unstoppable by winning her maiden WTT singles career title at the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi in Texas.
Two months later, in March, Sreeja took home the WTT Feeder Beirut II title before becoming the first Indian to win the WTT Contender Lagos in June. She also overtook Manika Batra as the top-ranked Indian paddler as she held a career-high rank of world No. 24.
After winning the WTT Contender Lagos, Sreeja Akula spoke about being confident through the Olympics and pulling off multiple upsets to win the elusive medal. Speaking to Ultimate Table Tennis, Akula said, "I think I am well prepared for the tournament. I just want to play my best in whichever event I am playing and just want to create the maximum number of upsets."
