Sreeja Akula is likely one of the rising stars in desk tennis in India. She had scripted historical past by successful the elusive gold medal for India within the combined doubles class, at Commonwealth Video games 2022. She was additionally the winner in singles and doubles occasions on the 2022 Senior Nationwide Championships held in April. At current, the 24-year outdated is likely one of the prime ranked ladies’s desk tennis gamers within the nation.
However Sreeja is dealing with the brunt of unwarranted and unclear delays in receiving her prize cash for her wins on the Senior Nationwide Championships earlier this yr. She knowledgeable the media that she hadn’t obtained the prize cash for singles and doubles’ wins on the nationwide occasion.
“It’s not a small quantity. I ought to get greater than ₹2 lakhs. We hold sending emails however get no correct reply,” Sreeja informed The Indian Specific on the sidelines of the Nationwide Video games.
Representing Reserve Financial institution of India (RBI), the 24-year outdated had crushed 38-year-old Mouma Das 4-1 within the ultimate of girls’s singles on the nationwide match. She had teamed up with Ayikha Mukherjee to beat the RSPB pair of Takeme Sarkar and Prapti Sen within the doubles ultimate.
Sreeja knowledgeable the media that whereas Mouma Das and most males’s singles medallists had obtained their funds, she hadn’t and didn’t know why. She had even written a letter to the CoA and the Meghalaya affiliation asking why she hadn’t received her fee however to no avail.
Within the not too long ago held Nationwide Video games 2022, the Hyderabad-born paddler misplaced to Sutirtha Mukherjee within the ultimate of girls’s singles. Sutirtha defeated her 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, 12-14, 11-9.