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Young Indian paddler Sreeja Akula bagged the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi 2024 women's singles title on Thursday, January 18, at the American Bank Center in Texas.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist rallied past World No. 46 Lily Zhang of the United States of America 11-6, 18-16, 11-5 to win her first international individual title. This will be a major boost as she will next head to the WTT Star Contender Goa back home.
Sreeja Akula was dominant in the first game, putting the opponent under pressure right from the start with her free-flowing shots, some of which had no response. She twice hit wide at the right corner of Lily's table and the American failed to breach the net both times as the Indian extended the lead to 5-2. The first game was wrapped up in six minutes.
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Lily attempted to make a strong comeback with her sharp shots and angular moments to take a 4-1 lead in the second game before Sreeja clawed her way back to hold the edge at 5-4. The battle was forced to deuce and at advantage, it was an intense one with both players leaving no stone unturned to stay in the game. However, Sreeja ensured to take the two-point lead after she denied five game points to the American paddler.
The third game seemed a walk in the park for the two-time Indian national champion, with the sidespin mixed with the forehand spell doing the tricks. Apart from erring in one of her serves, Sreeja Akula was relentless as she bagged six points in the second half of the break.
Manav Thakkar goes down in men’s singles SF of WTT Feeder Corpus Christi 2024
World No.102 Manav Thakkar lost to European champion Joao Monteiro in the men’s singles semi-finals of the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi 2024. Despite an early-game advantage, Manav couldn’t get past the Portuguese international, going down 11-8, 8-11, 11-13, 9-11. Even though he came close in the contest but finished as the second best.
Reigning national champion Harmeet Desai bowed out in the quarterfinals following his 1-3 defeat to Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko. Other Indian star players are currently playing in the WTT Contender Doha 2024.
