ITTF World Table Tennis Championships 2023: 3 paddlers who exceeded expectations 

India’s campaign at the ongoing World Table Tennis Championship ended on Wednesday, May 24, after Manika Batra lost in the Women’s singles round of 32.

World No.39 Batra fought hard in a seven-game nail-biting contest against Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz. Apart from Batra, Achanta Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, and Archana Kamath also lost their respective matches on Day 4 of the 57th World Championship, in Durban, South Africa.

A total of 11 Indian paddlers participated in the five individual events - men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. India missed the opportunity to end their medal drought in the showpiece event since they won a couple of bronze medals in 1926.

Nevertheless, there were some moments for the Table Tennis supporters in India to take solace from with some youngsters promising to rise in the future. Let’s have a glance at three Indian players who punched above their weight.

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Sreeja Akula

Competing in her first World Championships singles event, the senior national champion started the tournament with a 4-1 (11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5) thumping win over Italian Nicole Arlia in the round of 128.

However, she went down to the 40-year-old German Ying Han 0-4 in the round of 64 by a big margin of 4-0 (2-11, 4-11, 2-11, 4-11). She struggled to counter the experienced campaigner’s blazing shots which were mixed with some turn also.

Sreeja Akula paired with Mumbai’s Diya Chitale in the women’s doubles to script a come-from-behind win against the Italian pair of Arlia and Gaia Monfardini in the Round of 64. After trailing 1-2, Akula displayed some terrific shots in a thrilling match to pull off the last two games with margins of 11-8 and 11-9.

The Indian pair didn’t progress beyond the Round of 32 after getting drubbed by the Chinese paddlers Wang Manyu and Sun Yingsha. Even though China took the first two games comfortably, Akula and Chitale made them sweat for every single point in a game the former sealed by 13-11. It would be a learning curve for Sreeja, who is dubbed to be the next big thing in Indian table tennis.

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Archana Kamath

After missing out on the Commonwealth Games last year due to a selection fiasco caused by the CoA-administered Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), Archana Kamath is hungry to prove herself. The Bengaluru paddler paired with senior pro Manika Batra in the women’s doubles.

The pair cracked the code to get the better of the USA pair of Emily Quan and Yishuan Lin 3-1 on Day 1 in the Round of 64. They later blanked the competent Hungarian paddlers Dora Madarasz and Georgina Pota 3-0 in the next round. Archana and Manika crashed out in the Round of 16 against Japan’s world No.2 ranked Hina Hiyata and Mima Ito with a 3-0 margin.

Archana also played in the mixed doubles along with Manav Thakkar as they advanced to the Round of 32 only to lose to the Americans Nikhil Kumar and Amy Wang. Archana will need to progress considering the big tournaments like Asian Games 2023 and Paris Olympics 2024 in the line.

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Diya Chitale

The 20-year-old paddler from Mumbai showed great temperament after the Indian pair, including Sreeja, went two sets down. She hit one shot wide away from her range to in between Arlia and Monfardini with the Italians having no counter for that.

When India was 0-5 down in the second game, Diya Chitale played some great shots to bridge the gap at 8-9. A thumping over-the-shoulder smash came to level it 9-9 and two more points followed to seal the game.

For the most part of the game, Diya played behind Sreeja to attack. Her reflexes were to the point, even though some of them couldn’t meet the opposition’s court. The experience of playing at global events like the Commonwealth Games has helped Diya understand the game better. She has a long way to go in her promising career.