Sreeja Akula moves past Manika Batra; becomes India's no.1 in women's singles

India ace table tennis player Sreeja Akula propelled to the 38th rank in the latest ITTF Table Tennis World Rankings in the women’s singles category. Interestingly, she moved past Manika Batra, who is settled at the 39th rank in the updated rankings.

Akula, the two-time national champion, will have her eyes on the Paris Olympics 2024 as part of the Indian women’s team that made it to the mega event later this year. She became the first-ever shuttler from Telangana to achieve this feat.

Notably, Sreeja Akula secured her maiden international title at the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi 2024 in Texas, USA, in January 2024 after defeating USA's Lily Zhang 3-0 (11-6, 18-17, 11-5) in the final.

It’s important to note that the WTT Feeder Series serves as a lower-tier table tennis tournament, providing an ideal platform for the lower-ranked and grassroots Plato to compete on the international stage regularly.

Later, Akula continued her winning streak, securing the quarterfinal finish at WTT Star Contender Goa. Her campaign came to an against China's Cheng I-Ching, who beat her 3-1 (5-11, 11-7, 6-11, 4-11). Cheng went on to win the competition eventually.

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Sreeja Akula was recently knocked out of the World Cup

Most recently, Sreeja Akula failed to go through to the knockout rounds of the ITTF World Cup 2024 held in Macao, China. She suffered a defeat over World No. 4 Chen Meng from China. The Chinese star, who won gold in both singles and doubles in the Tokyo Olympics, secured a win in the match by 3-1 (11-4, 11-4, 13-15, 11-2).

Born in Hyderabad, Telangana, in 1998, Sreeja has amassed a remarkable array of accolades in her career so far. She secured the gold medal in women’s doubles and team events at the South Asian Games 2019. Additionally, she clinched a gold medal in mixed doubles alongside Sharath Kamal at the CWG 2022.

Sreeja Akula's rapid rise in the world rankings not only highlights India’s growth in international table tennis but also serves as a source of inspiration for budding players nationwide to take up the sport.