[Exclusive] Sreeja Akula - A story of ditching academic brilliance for excellence in table tennis

Indian table tennis star Sreeja Akula is special for various reasons. She has a Commonwealth Games gold medal, won at Birmingham in 2022, and is the current national champion in women's singles and doubles category.

However, she could have easily turned her back on sports and enjoyed a lucrative career away from it. A record of 9.5 CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) in 10th grade, followed by 96 percent in 12th standard, dictated that she should focus on securing a future in the field of engineering.

This is a mentality that didn’t work in favor of her sister Ravali, who introduced and inspired Sreeja to play the game of table tennis.

"I started playing at the age between 8 and 9. My dad used to play Table Tennis in his childhood. He couldn’t play it professionally because of financial constraints. So, he joined my sister and looking at her play Table Tennis, I joined. She was my inspiration and she used to win medals, bunk classes, and play tournaments,” Sreeja told Sportskeeda.

“I used to get impressed and I just started playing for fun and to stay fit. I was very lean and weak in my childhood. My parents also thought that I can gain some stamina and improve my immunity while playing. So that’s how I started,” she added.

The tale of the Akula sisters

Sreeja mentioned that her sister could never take up table tennis as a professional due to a lack of awareness in their society. But in her case, parents Praveen Kumar Akula and Sai Sudha were committed to do justice to Sreeja's talent.

To support the high expenses of his daughter's pursuit of a professional TT career, father Praveen changed his job from one in the government (Oriental Insurance) to one in a private firm (IFFCO Tokio General Insurance).

"I won my first national ranking medal at the age of 11 in cadet. That was when we gained some confidence and had the belief that I can do really well at national level. But we did not expect that we would come this far,” Sreeja said.

“At least in the sub-junior category or junior category, we thought now we can take it as a profession. I was young then, so they pushed me till 10th class because I was playing really well,” she added.

Even after reaching the stepping stone to a potentially great career, the player from Telangana wasn’t convinced. Remarks in reference to her academic excellence kept being made. Stressing on the dilemma she was stuck with at a young age, Sreeja said:

"My relatives were like, ‘She is doing so well in academics, then why do you want to put her in sports. She can take up CA or do something what she likes.’ But I wanted to always do something good for my country."

She added:

"Like I wanted to win some good medal when I used to see Sharath Bhaiya’s matches and I wanted to do something well. But until junior category, I was winning medals in India and won a few medals in international. But I wasn’t doing much great in senior category. So I was also feeling, maybe they (relatives) are right, that I am doing so well in academics. All this dilemma was going on."

Nonetheless, with a bemused mind, Sreeja continued to hold the bat and smash the ball along with constant doubts that were creeping into her mind. The 2013 ITTF Guatemala Cadet and Junior Championship was where she got a massive push in terms of recognition.

Sreeja Akula's unexpected push in junior category

Sreeja Akula was selected to play for India in the sub-junior category (U-14) first. But midway through the event, she was elevated to play in the junior (U-18) category. Out of nowhere, the talented youngster defeated the top-seeded players in the junior category to win the junior girls’ singles title.

She outsmarted the likes of Eva Brito (then No. 1 seed from the Dominican Republic) in the quarter-finals, Zhang Xuan (then No. 4 seed from Spain) in the semi-finals, and finally compatriot Sagarika Mukherjee (No. 2 seed) in the final to see a quantum jump at the junior level of table tennis.

Sreeja Akula added two more medals from the cadet girls category - a silver in singles and a bronze in doubles - to hog the limelight.

Sreeja Akula's tutelage under Somnath Ghosh for more than a decade

Sreeja Akula joined former national games medallist Somnath Ghosh in 2011 after her father, a former TT player himself, was referred to a newly opened academy in Hyderabad. Sreeja was among the first three players coached by Ghosh.

Since then, she has been improving her game along with stamina and fitness standards, for more than a decade. According to the player herself, Ghosh has played multiple roles in shaping her career, even when it came to picking her up from school and taking her to the academy, and dropping her back home.

"It’s just because of him that I am here today. He played a very big role. He took care of my training needs and fitness. He used to do counseling, he worked as a fitness trainer, mental trainer, and a coach. Everything!”

After years of looking after the player’s fitness, Ghosh passed on the responsibility to physical therapist Hirag Bagchi. The latter is currently working as a fitness trainer to Sreeja Akula at the Somnath Ghosh UTT Table Tennis Academy in Kukatpally, Hyderabad.

Speaking about her routine with a focus on fitness training, Sreeja Akula said:

“Basically, I work more on strength and agility training. So he (Hirak Bagchi) takes care and we have our schedule which we follow around the year like a weekly schedule. He is the one who takes care of my pain or any injury. We have a turf court on top of this building (at her academy in Hyderabad). So we do our agility and endurance training there. And we do gym once a week and we have weights for strengthening.”

She added:

"Nowadays, I am working more on strengthening my upper body. My lower body is good but I need to strengthen my upper body. So we are working more on that. I am working on my speed and recovery."

2022 was a mesmerising year for Sreeja Akula

If 2013 was the year when Sreeja Akula first caught the attention of the Indian table tennis fraternity, 2022 was the year when she shot to fame at the age of 24.

A year after going down to Manika Batra 3-4 in the semi-finals of the women’s singles category in the Senior National Table Tennis Championship, Sreeja clinched her maiden national title in April 2022. This was after defeating Mouma Das in the final, by a scoreline of 8-11, 13-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-6.

She became the first female player from Andhra Pradesh or Telangana to win the championship.

Sreeja Akula also won India’s first mixed doubles gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022, along with her new partner - veteran Sharath Kamal. The youngster was then decorated with the Arjuna Award on 30 November by the President of India in New Delhi.

While reacting to the achievement of being awarded India’s second-highest sporting honour, Sreeja Akula mentioned:

“I really feel very happy. It was my dream since childhood to be a recipient of the Arjuna award and my dream has come true and I am very happy that I have received it. And after receiving it, I was very excited.”

She added:

“My parents were also very happy. It was a very proud moment for them and my coach as well. Everybody in my house congratulated me. All my relatives came home to see me and it was good.”

Sreeja Akula's vision for upcoming major tournaments

Sreeja Akula has plenty of things on her table and there is no area for complacency after great success in 2022. The first thing she wants to improve is adopting an offensive backhand game and developing more variations.

“I am working on improving variations in my backhand. I have a defensive rubber on my backhand and I play offensive on the forehand side. I am learning to flip my bat and play offensively on the the backhand side sometimes. That can be really effective in the international circuit as well.

"I need to improve more variations on backhand like the Chinese and Japanese are good with my rubber. So I need to learn more variations so that I get a good point to finish it.”

Sreeja Akula is currently ranked 76 in the ITTF Table Tennis world rankings and her end goal in 2023 is to break into the Top 60. The other important aim is to get the better of her Asian rivals on the court.

"Not particular player (on toughest opponent to face) but I think the Asians are good for my style of game. I am comfortable with European style of play but Asians are really quick. I need to improve my reflexes to play with them. I am doing really well as last year I also beat a girl from Korea whose world ranking was 21. (Senior category WTT star contender in Doha).”

Sreeja Akula will be preparing for the World Table Tennis Championships, scheduled to take place in South Africa in May 2023. The focus will later shift to the rescheduled 2022 Asian Games in September 2023.

Just before concluding the interview with Sportskeeda, Sreeja had a special message for not just the upcoming players but the youth in general:

“Like we cannot expect results immediately, but hard work definitely pays, and at some point of time in our career, definitely, we will be successful in our own way.”

Sreeja Akula has shown that sports is a viable and desirable career option for talented people. Even academic brilliance shouldn't stay in the way of a talented sportsperson.