India’s Sreeja Akula plays against China’s Sun Yingsha during a women’s singles round of 16 table tennis game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
The what ifs will surely stay with her for a long time. On her 26th birthday, India’s Sreeja Akula had incredible chances to give herself the best birthday gift — a win over World No. 1 Sun Yinghsa. But a total of nine game points squandered in the opening two games meant that the Indian World No. 25 was knocked out of the women’s singles in the Round of 16 at the Paris Olympics.
The 4-0 (12-10, 12-10, 11-8, 11-3) scoreline may show it was a routine win for the World No. 1, but it was anything but that. Sreeja was right there, going paddle-to-paddle with the best in the world. Using her pimpled rubber on her backhand, Sreeja played it short to Yingsha who struggled to reach. With the return coming slightly high, Sreeja executed a perfect turn to unleash her forehand topspin that got her a number of points.
Like Manika Batra, Sreeja too twiddled, and why not? She was ready to do anything to get that win.
Sun Yingsha showing class 🏓
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The trouble with pimpled rubber is that it doesn’t work so well when the opponent is able to generate a ton of power. That’s exactly what Yingsha did when she was down four game points in the first game. She followed the same syllabus when down five game points in the second.
Flustered after letting those two games go and with her confidence surely taking a beating, it was going to be tough for Sreeja to come back into the match. Yingsha simply switched gears in the third and fourth games to win the match, though Sreeja did show glimpses of a fight.
The match may have been lost, but Sreeja once again showed that Indians are capable of competing with the Chinese, and that they no longer fear them.
The Indian women’s paddlers’ historic run in the women’s singles in Paris ended, with Manika too losing her Rd of 16 match earlier in the day.
Sreeja and Co. can exact revenge at the team event next week, where they will only meet China if both reach the final.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 01-08-2024 at 02:05 IST
