City paddler Sreeja dazzles in Mumbai

Hyderabad: Hyderabad teenager Akula Sreeja created history of sorts by scooping a rich medal haul in the $8,000 Reliance India Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Open, which concluded at the NSCI Stadium in Mumbai late Sunday evening. The trail-blazing efforts of the Global Table Tennis Academy (GTTA) trainee saw her win a phenomenal three medals.

In addition to silver in the cadet team event, Sreeja finished second best in the cadet individual competition. The icing on the cake came in the cadet doubles where, partnering C R Harshavardhini, she defeated the combination of Shruti Amrute and another Hyderabad girl, Naina Jaiswal 12-10, 11-8, 11-4. A hallmark of the brave-heart’s efforts was the manner she fought the cadet singles final. She went with guns blazing before losing a marathon battle to Sagarika Mukherjee 2-3.

Sreeja, Naina hit new high

Hyderabad: Hyderabad teenager Akula Sreeja created history of sorts by scooping a rich medal haul in the $8,000 Reliance India Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Open, which concluded at the NSCI Stadium in Mumbai late Sunday evening. The trail-blazing efforts of the Global Table Tennis Academy (GTTA) trainee saw her win a phenomenal three medals. In addition to silver in the cadet team event, Sreeja finished second best in the cadet individual competition.

The icing on the cake came in the cadet doubles where, partnering C R Harshavardhini, she defeated the combination of Shruti Amrute and another Hyderabad girl, Naina Jaiswal 12-10, 11-8, 11-4. A hallmark of the braveheart’s efforts was the manner she fought the cadet singles final. She went with guns blazing before losing a marathon battle to Sagarika Mukherjee 2-3.

She may have lost the cadet girls singles summit clash but there was an overwhelming awe at the gritty manner she fought back before losing out to Mukherjee. The cadet girl’s final was perhaps the most exciting battle on a day when neither player could do any wrong. Sreeja saved four championship points to level the score and even went 7-4 up in the decider. However, once Sagarika drew level at 7-all, she gained in momentum to win the cracker of a contest 3-2. It was a fitting performance that complemented with her mentor, Somnath Ghosh, winning the men singles title in the AWA State Ranking tournament at around the same time.

Meanwhile, Naina also did well by finishing with the silver medal in the cadet girl’s doubles. She also lost to Sreeja 2-3 in the junior girl’s individual consolation event final.

Results all finals:

Junior boys singles: Sudhanshu Grover bt Abhishek Yadav 11-2, 16-14, 12-10, 4-11, 11- 7;

Doubles: Sameera Kumar/Rohit Rajasekhar bt Sudhanshu Grovere/Abhishek Yadav 15-13, 11-6, 11- 7;

Junior girls singles: Yanmei Yang (CHN) bt Sagarika Mukherjee 11-6, 11- 2, 11-4, 14-16, 9-11, 5-11, 12- 10:

Doubles: Ayhika Mukher j e e / S u t h i r t h a Mukherjee bt Manika Batra/Reeth Tennison 11-5, 10-12, 12-10, 11-3;

Cadet boys singles: Birdie Boro bt Arjun Ghosh 11-8, 11-6, 16- 14;

Doubles: Arjun Ghosh/Ayush Tayal bt Birdie Boro/Anirban Ghosh 11-8, 4-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9;

Cadet girls singles: Sagarika Mukherjee bt Sreeja Akula 13-11, 11-13, 11-8, 17-19, 11- 9; '

Doubles: Sreeja Akula/C R Harshavardhini bt Shruti Amrute/Naina 12-10, 11-8, 11-4.