India’s Sreeja Akula plays against China’s Sun Yingsha during a women’s singles round of 16 table tennis game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
India’s women paddlers have been on a pathbreaking run over the past year with 26-year-old Sreeja Akula at the forefront of the charge. At the Paris Olympics, she was on the verge of causing a huge upset when she led World No 1 Sun Yingsha 10-6 and 10-5 in the opening two games before the Chinese — who eventually won the gold medal — fought back.
After the Olympics, Sreeja revealed she was suffering from a stress fracture in the groin which has kept her out of action for six weeks. She started training only a couple of weeks ago, but all eyes will be on her when India take on Korea in the quarterfinals of the Asian Championships on Tuesday.
Speaking to The Indian Express, the World No 23 said this edition of the Asian Championships is more difficult than the Olympics but hopes to bounce back in style.
Excerpts:
Q. You suffered an injury during the Olympics and it has taken you a while to get back to playing. How difficult was the recovery process?
Sreeja Akula: The injury was very scary because I’ve never had to completely stop playing table tennis before. The pain started before the Olympics, at a tournament in Lagos, but it didn’t affect me too much so I brushed it off. It was only after playing my opening match (Rd of 64 against Christina Kallberg of Sweden) in Paris that I knew my injury was serious. So basically throughout the remainder of the tournament, I was on painkillers. When we did the scans, we got to know the seriousness of the injury and I was extremely scared. I didn’t know for how long I would be out. I’m just grateful to have an excellent physio team, who worked around the clock to ensure that I got back as soon as possible. Right now, I’m not 100 percent fit, especially since I wasn’t allowed to do any lower- body exercises for six weeks till the bone healed completely, but I’m getting there slowly.
Q. What about mental recovery?
Sreeja Akula: It was extremely difficult to accept that I would be out for more than a month but once I accepted it, it got easier. I have a wonderful family who motivated me every day. My coach Somnath Ghosh would visit my house at every opportunity he got. I actually got used to life without table tennis and surprisingly, I was enjoying it. Now that I’m back, I’m finding it difficult. Seeing all the other players being so much better than me physically is daunting, but I know I have to give myself time to make a proper comeback.
Q. Talking about the Olympics, do you ever think of what might’ve been had you converted those game points against Sun Yingsha? Now that you’ve had time to ponder, what do you think went wrong? Was it the injury?
Sreeja Akula: On the table, the injury never affected me because of the adrenaline and painkillers. When I first saw the draw, I knew it would be tough but my psychologist supported me. She told me that the draw can’t be changed, so play as though it was the last match of my career. I went into the match with that mindset. At 10-6 and 10-5, she (Yingsha) just raised her game and went on an all-out attack. I didn’t expect that. In retrospect, I should’ve focused more on myself and taken a few risks. I was too passive and that’s why perhaps I couldn’t convert those points.
Q. Before the Olympics, you said you preferred if your personal coach Somnath sat on the coach’s bench during the singles event. That wasn’t the case as national coach Massimo Costantini was on the bench during that match and was seen motivating you. Did Somnath not being there make any difference, especially at such a crucial juncture?
Sreeja Akula: Coach Massimo is very helpful but it was my first Olympics and I wanted Somnath because he understands me very well. He’s the one who has brought me to this level and I would like it if he continues being there for my matches. I don’t know if it would’ve made a difference to the result of the match, but he knows that I don’t need motivation during a match as I’m always pumped up. He knows that being stern with me works too.
Q. Coming to the Asian Championships, India face a tough quarterfinal against Korea. What do you make of your chances and the team all together?
Sreeja Akula: I feel that the Asian Championships is the toughest tournament, even tougher than the Olympics because all the top table tennis-playing nations are Asian. Even in the singles draw, each country can have five players while at the Olympics, it’s only two. We reached the quarterfinals of the team event at the Olympics and we’re a really confident unit. We have a very strong team. Personally, I just want to be back to playing my best table tennis.
Q. You spoke of being a strong team. India now has 5 women paddlers in the top 100 and you are the highest-ranked among them. What do you make of this surge in rankings?
Sreeja Akula: Earlier, entering the top 50 was beyond our imagination. Manika (Batra) has led the way quite incredibly by being a top player for more than five years now. The juniors are coming up and we’re seeing them cause upsets at national ranking tournaments. Now, nobody wants to be in just the top 50. We want to be in the top 30 or the top 20 even. Mentally too, we’re just not scared of playing anyone. It’s that attitude that has completely changed and that’s why I’m saying that we’re going to have many more players in the top-50 of the world rankings soon.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 07-10-2024 at 19:45 IST
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