India’s nationwide girls’s desk tennis champion Sreeja Akula appears to be on an expedited mission, and she or he’s able to go all out to satisfy her targets.
It didn’t matter that she needed to depart a lot of the Indian contingent and journey midway world wide from Doha to Texas to play a event just a few tiers under what she usually performs. It didn’t matter to her that she needed to journey as many as 32 hours again dwelling to Telangana, solely to spend just a few hours there earlier than heading to Goa to play one other event.
Along with her profession taking off up to now couple of years, life has turn out to be a rollercoaster for her, and she or he’s having fun with the fun, albeit suitcase in tow.
Whereas she’s India’s No. 1 girls’s participant, having gained home tournaments together with a few nationwide rating tournaments, she appears to wrestle on the worldwide stage at World Desk Tennis (WTT) tournaments. She’s managed to go previous the qualifying levels, however it’s competing in the primary draw in opposition to the most effective on this planet the place she struggles. And it’s a good wrestle, one thing even India’s top-ranked girls’s paddler Manika Batra hasn’t actually excelled at.
With the Paris Olympics arising, there’s all the time stress to get good outcomes to raised the rating and make the minimize. In spite of everything, the Summer time Video games appear to be the final word objective for many sportspersons, and it’s no totally different for Sreeja. After the excessive of profitable the Commonwealth Video games blended doubles gold alongside Sharath Kamal, her confidence was taking a beating off late, and she or he knew she needed to do one thing about it.
That was when somebody recommended that she play a lower-tier WTT Feeder event, reasonably than a WTT Contender. The one downside was that the Feeder event was within the US and she or he was already in Qatar the place the Contender was going to be held. Her starvation to do properly and enhance her rankings made her select the previous, though it might have properly been a waste of time.
Her danger paid off although, and the way! Displaying impeccable maturity, the 25-year-old secured her maiden worldwide title, profitable the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi in Texas, beating some prime names on the way in which, together with World No. 37 Lily Zhang who she shocked in straight video games within the remaining. Whereas Sreeja was in a position to dominate USA’s Lily within the title conflict, it was her quarterfinal win over World No. 35 and prime seed Amy Wang that erased all doubts in her thoughts.
“It’s such an awesome feeling to lastly win a world event by beating prime gamers. I might all the time really feel disheartened and query myself whether or not I might play at this degree and this simply confirmed me I’m able to competing at a excessive degree,” she instructed The Indian Specific on the sidelines of the WTT Star Contender Goa on Tuesday.
Olympics on her thoughts
The win additionally noticed her soar 28 locations to best-ever rating of 66 on this planet. “For an Olympic 12 months, this rating is so necessary,” she says.
“For India to qualify for the Olympics as a workforce, we have to get our particular person rating increased. The cut-off for qualification is mid-June so I’m able to play any tournaments, not simply contenders however feeders as properly,” she stated.
India may also qualify for the Olympics in the event that they attain the quarterfinals of the World Staff Championships subsequent month and Sreeja says they’ve a great probability.
“Final 12 months within the workforce championships we misplaced within the pre-quarterfinals to Chinese language Taipei however this 12 months everybody within the workforce has been performing properly. Our rankings are also collectively significantly better so we’re assured of constructing it to Paris,” she says.
Battling accidents
Whereas she’s able to play in no matter tournaments to make sure qualification for the Olympics, Sreeja must be aware of an harm for which sufficient relaxation is a should.
“I’ve tennis elbow, which could be very problematic for a paddler. I’ve been enjoying back-to-back tournaments for the final couple of years and now I’ve to be extraordinarily cautious about it. That’s why I do energy coaching individually for an hour and a half day-after-day,” she says.
Contemporary problem
Now that Sreeja is ranked 66th on this planet, she should face a brand new problem. To now enhance her rating or keep at that degree, she should constantly beat the top-50 gamers. Meaning she will probably be dealing with Asian gamers — the Chinese language and Japanese particularly — extra usually. And she or he is aware of she has to up her sport by a ways.
“Greater than something, I have to get mentally stronger in opposition to prime Asian gamers. I’ve improved little doubt, however Asians are very fast and so I’m engaged on enhancing the quickness of my ft. Since I play with a pimpled rubber, I have to discover ways to enhance my variations and flip my bat mid-rally, one thing which Manika has mastered,” Sreeja stated.
After her win in Texas, she’s certain to seize just a few eyeballs when she performs on the ongoing WTT Star Contender the place she has made it to the primary draw. She could also be sleep-deprived and jet-lagged, however she’s fueled up and raring to go.