Sreeja Akula rallied to enter the pre-quarterfinals after a hard-fought 4-2 win over Singapore's Jian Zeng in a women's singles round of 32 match as Indian table tennis continued to make history at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday. (Full Olympics Coverage | More Sports News)
On her 26th birthday, Sreeja won the match 9-11 12-10 11-4 11-5 10-12 12-10 to join compatriot Manika Batra in the pre-quarterfinals, an unprecedented feat in the historyꦰ of Indian table tennis.
She lost the opening game but fou⛦ght back strongly to emerge as the winner in the contest, which lasted 51 minutes.
Batra had made the pre-quarters on Monday.
Sreeja will take on China's world number one Sꦯun Yingsha in the pre-quarterfi𒀰nals.
Having lost the first hame, Sree🏅ja rode her luck to win the second and restore parity. She was a bit fortunate to take the second game as🅺 she made quite several errors and squandered a three-point lead to allow Zeng to claw back into the game and take it to tie-breakers.
Emboldened by the comeback, a confident Seeja produced a dominant show to easily pocket the third game and place herself in a strong position to advan𒅌ce to the next round.
The Indian number one continued in the same vein in the fourth game and won🔯 it without much difficulty. The player from Singapo🎶re offered some resistance and bagged the fifth game.
But🀅, Sreeja held her nerves to seal the deal in her favour in the sixth game.
Last month, Sreeja achieved a career-high world ranking of No⛎. 24, displacing Batra as India's top women's singles player.
Sreeja, a two-time national champion, scripted ꦓhistory by winning the WTT Contender singles title in Lagos in June.
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, she won the gold medal in 𝔍the ♈mixed doubles event with Sharath Kamal.
