Indian Table Tennis Upsets: Sharath Kamal Exits, Sreeja Akula Triumphs

Paris
Indian table tennis star Achanta Sharath Kamal made a surprising exit from the Paris Olympics men’s singles competition, losing 2-4 to Slovenia’s Deni Kozul in the round of 64 on Sunday. Kamal, 42, and making his fifth Olympic appearance, lost 12-10, 9-11, 6-11, 7-11, 11-8, 10-12 to Kozul, who is ranked 86 places below him, in a match that lasted 53 minutes.
The Commonwealth Games champion, ranked 40th globally, won a close first game but then lost the next three, trailing 1-3. Despite winning the fifth game to make it 2-3, he was unable to secure the fourth game, thus bowing out of the competition. Kozul is ranked 126th in the world.
In contrast, India’s top-ranked female paddler, Sreeja Akula, progressed to the round of 32 with a commanding 4-0 win over Sweden’s Christina Kallberg. Sreeja, the first Indian to win a WTT Contender singles title, triumphed 11-4, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8 in just 30 minutes. She won the first set easily but faced resistance in the second. The third set saw both players neck-and-neck at 7-5 before Sreeja found her rhythm to secure it. In the fourth set, she established a 9-3 lead, but Kallberg narrowed it to 10-8 before Sreeja’s powerful forehand sealed the victory. Later in the day, star paddler Manika Batra will compete against Anna Hursey of Great Britain in the women’s singles.