Excessive on confidence after a profitable 12 months, rising desk tennis star Sreeja Akula is aiming to enter the top-50 in rankings in six months. The Hyderabad paddler accomplished a golden double on the nationals earlier this 12 months, profitable the singles and doubles titles. Then got here a profitable Commonwealth Video games (CWG) debut in Birmingham the place she got here agonisingly near a person bronze earlier than partnering the skilled Sharath Kamal to win the blended doubles gold.
Come Wednesday, Sreeja will add Arjuna award to her trophy cupboard.
“It has been a outstanding 12 months that noticed me acquire a whole lot of confidence,” the 24-year-old mentioned. “I wish to proceed the great work subsequent 12 months and enter the highest 50.”
That may imply a leap of 26 locations for the world No 76. A tall order one might imagine, however contemplating that she was world No 138 initially of the 12 months, it isn’t fully out of attain.
“The soar in rankings has given me a whole lot of confidence. The chain really began with the nationals. Changing into the nationwide champion was a longstanding dream and that win gave me the boldness to do properly on the CWG,” Sreeja mentioned.
She could have returned with only a solitary medal from CWG, however rubbing shoulders with among the best gamers on the circuit helped assess her recreation in a extra holistic method. “It was a beautiful publicity. I might see prime sportspersons from varied disciplines in motion, which was fairly inspiring. I got here actually near a person medal, which gave me a good thought of the areas I must work on.”
One space is the forehand. Sreeja is working with coach Somnath Ghosh so as to add extra topspin to her forehand returns. “I’m nonetheless engaged on it and I might prefer to get extra constant at it. Moreover technical abilities, over the previous couple of years, I’ve labored lots on my health, vitamin, and psychological power. It is solely now that the outcomes are starting to indicate,” mentioned Sreeja, who’s supported by Dream Sports activities Basis.
Sreeja’s psychological reserves had been examined to the restrict in Birmingham when she needed to flip up for the blended doubles semi-final and the ultimate hours after shedding her singles semi-final and bronze medal playoff.
Weeping within the change room after shedding to Singapore’s a number of Olympics, Asian, and Commonwealth Video games medallist Feng Tianwei — the eventual gold medallist — Sreeja was comforted and egged on by her psychological coach, coach, and Sharath Kamal. An hour later, she and Sharath eked out a 3-2 win over the Australia’s Nicholas Lum and Jee Hyung-min.
The story repeated itself forward of the blended doubles ultimate when she misplaced 3-4 to Australia’s Liu Yangzi within the bronze playoff. “It was a really troublesome loss to take, particularly as a result of I performed out of my pores and skin,” mentioned Sreeja, who made many comebacks within the match.
“My coach took me out for a meal. Sharath bhaiya instructed me to give attention to the match at hand and attempt to put the frustration behind. These losses taught me lots about my recreation in addition to my psychological reserves. It (blended doubles ultimate) was going to be my final match of the event, so I made a decision to go all out. Gold was a nice shock, to be trustworthy. Nobody, not even I anticipated me to play so properly as a result of I used to be completely shattered earlier than the match,” she mentioned.
“Indisputably, profitable the blended doubles gold is the very best and most particular second of my profession.”
Submit CWG, she reached the last-16 stage at WTT Feeder Olomouc in Czech Republic, was ousted within the first spherical of WTT contender in Muscat, and took silver on the Nationwide Video games (all singles). On the world staff championships in Chengdu, she beat German world No 14 Nina Mittelham and Egypt’s world No 30 Meshref Dina to emerge the lone vivid spot. India’s marketing campaign ended within the spherical of 16.
“Beating higher-ranked gamers offers me a whole lot of confidence. There was a time, perhaps 2-3 years again, after I can be actually intimidated in opposition to Chinese language, Japanese or Koreans. I did not all the time have the assumption and I’d merely go all out with out a lot conviction. Of late, I’ve realised that everybody is beatable. Now, in my head, I enter every match as an equal and know that if I play to potential, I can beat the very best.”
The Arjuna award is a end result of what has been a busy 12 months for her. “It is the fantastic icing on the cake. As athletes, we all the time dream of profitable worldwide medals and getting recognised in our nation. I’m actually excited to go to the Rashtrapati Bhavan and be part of that ceremony.”