Indian table tennis player Sreeja Akula won the women's singles and doubles titles at the WTT Contender Lagos 2024 at the Sir Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall in Nigeria.
Let us tell you that 25-year-old Sreeja Akula is part of the Indian table tennis team for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Sreeja Akula defeated 16-year-old Yijie Ding of the People's Republic of China 4-1 (10-12,11-9,11-6,11-8,11-6) in the final.
Akula had earlier defeated India's Tokyo Olympian Sutirtha Mukherjee in the semi-finals. The world number 43 Indian paddler defeated Mukherjee, ranked 125th, 3-2 (11-8, 13-15, 11-9, 9-11,12-10).
In the other semifinal, Yijie Ding defeated Ayhika Mukherjee 3-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-2, 11-13, 11-4).
India's top-ranked women's table tennis player and world No. 28 Manika Batra lost 3-2 (11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8) to 331st-ranked Farida Badawi of Egypt in the Round of 16.
Sreeja Akula along with Archana Kamath won the women's doubles title by defeating compatriots Yashaswini Ghorpade and Diya Chitale 3-2 (11-9, 11-6, 12-10). In the men's doubles final, national champion Harmeet Desai teamed up with Manav Thakkar to beat Nigerian pair Olajide Omotayo and Azeez Solanke by a score of 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-8).
With this, the Indian table tennis players who have won all four titles include Sreeja Akula, Archana Kamath, Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar and all of them are included in the Indian team for the Paris Olympics.
Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal, who is set to participate in the Olympic Games for the fifth time in Paris next month, lost 3-2 (11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6) to 19-year-old Frenchman Thibault Poret in the quarterfinals.
