Sreeja Akula propels to World No. 24, becomes India’s No.1 ranked paddler in singles
Indian paddler Sreeja Akula scripted history as she surpassed Manika Batra to become India’s No.1 ranked player in women’s singles. Most recently, at the WTT Contender Lagos, Sreeja Akula secured a title win in the women’s singles category, becoming the first Indian paddler to win a title at the WTT Contender level.
With this historic win, Sreeja propelled 19 spots to the 24th rank to secure India’s No.1 rank in the latest ITTF women’s singles rankings updated on June 25, Tuesday.
With this, Sreeja, who is also part of the Indian table tennis contingent for the forthcoming Paris Olympics 2024, also became the joint highest-ranked singles player ever along with Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.
In other rankings, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee reached the top 100 rankings, securing 75th and 92nd ranks respectively. While Sutirtha rocketed 50 spots, Ayhika moved up 48 ranks to hold the new position.
On the other hand, Manika Batra slipped to the 29th rank after her dismal performance at the WTT Contender Lagos event. Yashashwini Ghorpade, another singles paddler, moved up 13 spots to be now ranked 86th.
Shifting to the men's singles rankings, Sharath Kamal is India's highest-ranked paddler with 39th position, moving five spots up in the tally. Manav Thakkar ascended four spots to hold the 59th rank, his career-high in the ITTF singles rankings.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (68) and Harmeet Desai (84) are the other notable Indian paddlers in the top 100 men’s singles rankings.
In men's doubles rankings, the Indian pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah slipped one spot down to secure the 13th rank with 905 points. Moving to the women's doubles rankings, Sutirtha and Ayhika descended four ranks to the 16th position in the updated tally.
Sreeja Akula scripted history in WTT Contender Lagos
Sreeja Akula created history on June 23 as she went on to secure the women’s singles and doubles titles at the WTT Contender Lagos 2023 at Sir Molade Okoya Thomas Indoor Sports Hall in Lagos, Nigeria.
Akula stunned the 16-year-old Chinese player Ding Yijie by 4-1 (10-12, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6) in the grand final. Later, she paired up with Archana Girish to bag the doubles title, defeating fellow compatriots Yashaswini Ghorpade and Diya Parag by 3-0 (11-9, 11-6, 12-10).