Paris, July 28: India's top-ranked table tennis player Sreeja Akula entered the round of 32 with a clinical 4-0 win over Sweden's Christina Kallberg at the Paris Olympics here on Sunday. Sreeja, who had created history by becoming the first Indian paddler to win a WTT Contender singles title, registered a 11-4, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8 victory in 30 minutes over the Swede. Paris Olympics 2024: Ramita Jindal Qualifies for Final; Elavenil Valarivan Suffers Heartbreak in Women’s 10M Air Rifle Event.

The Indian had little trouble bagging the first set but was stretched in the second, and her rival continued to do that in the next two sets as well.

In the third set, Sreeja and Kallberg went neck-to-neck till 7-5, but the Indian found her bearings just in time to pocket it.

Sreeja made the early running in the fourth set, taking a 9-3 lead, but a few unforced errors and a couple of good smashes helped Kallberg narrow the lead to 9-7 and then to 10-8. But a powerful unanswered forehand to the right corner of the table propelled Sreeja to the next round. In the other matches of the day, Manika Batra will face Anna Hursey of Great Britain while veteran Sharath Kamal will take on Deni Kozul of Slovenia.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)