Paris Olympics
Birthday girl Sreeja Akula creates history by becoming second Indian TT player to reach Round 16 after Manika Batra
Indian table tennis hopeful Sreeja Akula followed Manika Batra's achievement by qualifying for the Round of 16 in the Women’s Singles event at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
Birthday girl Akula reached the next round by beating Singapore’s Jian Zeng 9-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10 in a thrilling encounter which was extended to six sets.
Despite Zeng's initial strong show and dominance, the Indian player displayed her grit and confidence to overtake the Singaporean at the end of the thrilling clash.
Games 3 and 4 saw Sreeja coming back into the game and slowly exerting pressure on the Singaporean player.
The fifth game ended as a nail-biting encounter with Zeng bouncing back into the game but Sreeja kept herself composed and managed to win the last set and the match to cruise to the next round and write her name in the history of Indian Table Tennis.
She is the second Indian Table Tennis player to reach the Round 16 stage of the Paris Olympics after Manika Batra did it a day ago.
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