Paris Olympics 2024: Sreeja Akula beats Christina Kallberg 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 and 11-8 in R64

India’s Table Tennis women’s singles star   Sreeja Akula started her Paris Olympics 2024  campaign with an 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 and 11-8 win in 28 minutes over Swedish star Christina Kallberg. Akula entered the Summer Games in Paris as India’s hig hest-ranked player. 2024 has been a great year for the 25-year-old from Hyderabad as she won the  WTT Contender title in Lagos. Coming back to the South Paris Arena 4, Akula didn’t let her previous loss against Kallberg from  WTT Contender  Rio de Janerio affect her psyche as she got off to an incredible start.

The Indian paddler zoomed through the first game to register an  11-4 win with a barrage of fierce forehand shots and her trademark turn and smash. The second game was a topsy-turvy affair with the Swede starting with quick points but Akula got back into the contest before Kallberg levelled the scores at 9-9. This late rally wasn’t enough as the Indian picked up consecutive points to clinch an 11-9 victory. 

Game 3 saw  Sreeja Akula build on her winning momentum to take a sizeable lead which was soon cut short by Kallberg but the Indian star held her own and won with an 11-7 margin. Eyeing a whitewash, the 16th-seeded paddler took a 4-2 lead when her Swedish opponent called a timeout. Akula, after the break zoomed through to clinch Game 4 with an 11-8 margin and with the game in stunning fashion.

The last two years have been incredible for Akula with the 25-year-old cementing herself in the upper echelon of Indian Table Tennis. In 2022, she clinched the gold in mixed doubles at the Commonwealth Games with Sharath Kamal. In  2024, Akula was unstoppable by winning her maiden WTT singles career title at the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi in Texas. 

Two months later, in March, Sreeja took home the WTT Feeder Beirut II title before becoming the first Indian to win the WTT Contender Lagos in June. She also overtook Manika Batra as the top-ranked Indian paddler as she held a career-high rank of world No. 24.

After winning the  WTT Contender Lagos,  Sreeja Akula spoke about being confident through the Olympics and pulling off multiple upsets to win the elusive medal. Speaking to  Ultimate Table Tennis, Akula said,  “I think I am well prepared for the tournament. I just want to play my best in whichever event I am playing and just want to create the maximum number of upsets.” 

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