Sreeja Akula of India pocketed both women’s singles and doubles titles at WTT Contender Lagos 2024 in Sir Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall in Nigeria on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Sreeja Akula, a member of the Indian table tennis team for the Paris 2024 Olympics, beat 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.
With the Sunday win, Akula became the first Indian table tennis player to win a WTT Contender singles title.
In the semi-finals, Akula accounted for another home player, Tokyo Olympian Sutirtha Mukherjee. In that match, world No 43 Akula defeated the world No 125 Mukherjee 3-2 (11-8, 13-15, 11-9, 9-11,12-10).
Sutirtha Mukherjee had defeated defending champion and world No. 8 Shin Yubin of the Republic of Korea 3-2 (11-9, 3-11, 0-11, 11-9, 11-6) in the last-eight stage.
Yijie Ding had overcome Ayhika Mukherjee 3-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-2, 11-13, 11-4) in another semi-final.
World No. 28 Manika Batra, India’s top-ranked player in women’s table tennis, lost 3-2 (11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8) in the round of 16 to Farida Badawy of Egypt, who is ranked 331.
Sreeja Akula also partnered with Archana Kamath to bag the women’s doubles crown by overcoming Indian combo of Yashaswini Ghorpade and Diya Chitale in the final 3-2 (11-9, 11-6, 12-10).
In the final of the men’s doubles, the national champion Harmeet Desai combined with Manav Thakkar to beat the Nigerian combination of Olajide Omotayo and Azeez Solanke 3-0, with a comprehensive set record of 11-8, 11-9, 11-8. Thus, Desai and Thakkar became the first Indian men’s pair to emerge as champions at a Contender meet.
All four title-winning Indian table tennis players—Sreeja Akula, Archana Kamath, Harmeet Desai, and Manav Thakkar—made it to the Indian team for the Paris Olympics.
Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal, who is set to appear at the Olympic Games for the fifth time in Paris next month, was knocked in the quarterfinals by 19-year-old French paddler Thibault Poret 3-2 (11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6).