Sreeja Akula moves to World No. 22 in women's singles; becomes highest-ranked Indian player
After her impressive performances in the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024, Indian paddler Sreeja Akula has become the highest-ranked Indian table tennis player to date. She is now No. 22 in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) latest world rankings as of Tuesday (August 6). The Commonwealth Games gold medalist jumped up three spots from her previous ranking of 25.
Sreeja Akula has had a strong showing in this year’s Summer Olympic Games, as the paddler from Hyderabad defeated world No. 58 Christina Kallberg of Sweden in the Round of 64, as well as world No. 52 Zeng Jian of Singapore in the Round of 32. However, her luck ran out in the Round of 16, when she fell to world No. 1 Sun Yingsha of China.
Akula isn’t the only Indian paddler to enjoy a rankings bump after Paris 2024, as her teammate Manika Batra jumped up three places to become World No. 25. With the recently updated rankings, Sreeja Akula and Manika are the only two Indian table tennis players to crack the top 25 in the women’s singles rankings.
India’s highest-ranked table tennis players are Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee, who are ranked world No. 17 in the women’s doubles category. However, Indian paddlers have also faced some demotions in the latest rankings, with India’s highest-ranked men’s singles player Sharath Kamal dropping one place to become world No. 41.
Sreeja Akula's hopes for a medal at Paris Olympics 2024 ends
Despite a strong showing in the ongoing Paris Olympic Games, Sreeja Akula will have nothing to show for it in terms of medals.
Her final hope of securing a podium finish ended as the Indian women’s table tennis team of Sreeja,Manika, and Archana Kamath was defeated by Germany in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
The Indian team lost 3-1 against Germany, with Sreeja losing a doubles match alongside Archana Kamath to Yuan Wan and Shan Xiaona of Germany. Sreeja also lost in her singles match against 18-year-old Annett Kaufmann, ranked 100 in the women’s singles category, who previously defeated Manika Batra as well.