Sreeja creates history; wins maiden gold for Telangana in table tennis

Hyderabad: Sreeja Akula becomes the first woman in the history of Telangana table tennis to win a gold medal while Hyderabad-based S Fidel R Snehit won bronze in boys category at the National Ranking Table Tennis Tournament held in Sonepat, Haryana.

Sreeja outplayed Sutirtha Mukherjee of Haryana 4 – 2 in the finals. Sreeja had a trouble start and trailed in the game 0-2 before she pulled back to win the championship 4 - 2 (6 - 11, 7 - 11, 14 - 12, 13- 11, 11 - 9, 11 - 8).

In the run-up to the final, Sreeja defeated comparatively better ranked players before setting up her title clash with the Number 3 Sutirtha Mukherjee.

Snehit lost in semi-finals to Gujarat's Manush Shah. For the first time a Telangana boy finished in top-4 in boys category. "I prepared really well for this tournament but lost to my long time opponent in the semifinals. Though I am disappointed with this, I would like to work hard do well in the next national ranking tournament" Snehit said.

Snehit of city-based Global Table Tennis Academy (GTTA) is getting trained under former national champion S.Raman in Chennai.

Interestingly, all the four players (Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah, Jeet Chandra and Snehit) who had represented India in the World Junior Championships finished top four in youth category in the first national ranking tournament.

For Sreeja, who turned 20 this year, this is her first year in the women's category. She was ranked second in the youth category last year. Sreeja started the year as number 13 in the women's category and with her maiden win in the National Ranking Tournament, her ranking is certainly bound to improve. Sreeja is working as Assistant Manager at the RBI and she got the job last year in lieu of her splendid performance in table tennis.

Sreeja's Somnath Ghosh says, this is only a beginning and the goal is to represent India in Olympics and with the support offered to him by the Government of Telangana, his Academy can do wonders.

Prakash Raju, the Secretary of the Telangana State Table Tennis Association expressed joy and said it is a matter of pride that a Telangana woman has achieved the gold medal in the National Ranking Tournament. Slowly and steadily, Table Tennis will achieve the same importance and elevation as Badminton with the efforts from Mr. K. T. Rama Rao and the support given by him.

Praveen Akula, Sreeja's father and an employee of LIC, thanked K. T. Rama Rao, the sports Minister Srinivas Goud and all the other Government of Telangana administration for encouraging Sreeja and for brining Somnath Ghosh on deputation to the state. The sponsorship by Sri Chaitanya Group of Schools made a huge difference as Sreeja's family would not have been able to afford the high expenses of professional sports training.

Somnath Ghosh, an employee of the Railways, in on deputation to the Telangana State Sports Authority to take up the tall task of producing some national champions and win medals in international competitions. The noble initiative to bring Somnath to sports was made by IT Minister K. T. Rama Rao with the latter writing to the Sports Department back in 2018 to bring him from the Railways on deputation to the Telangana State Sports Authority. And Venkatesham, the Principal Secretary of the Sports Department wrote to the Railways for sending Somnath on deputation.