Sreeja Akula (born 31 July 1998) is an Indian table tennis player from Hyderabad. She won the mixed doubles gold medal with Sharath Kamal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and has twice been national champion. In 2024 she became the first Indian woman to win a singles title on the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender circuit, overtook Manika Batra as India’s highest-ranked woman and reached the last 16 at the Paris Olympics.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Sreeja Akula |
| Born | 31 July 1998, Hyderabad, India |
| Age | 28 |
| Sport | Table tennis |
| Plays | Right-handed |
| Coach | Somnath Ghosh |
| Employer | Reserve Bank of India |
| Honour | Arjuna Award (2022) |
Early Life
Sreeja was born in Hyderabad. Her father, Praveen Kumar, had played table tennis himself, and she followed her elder sister, Ravali, into the sport at about nine. She trained under Somnath Ghosh, who became her long-term coach. A strong student, she scored very high marks in her school examinations and completed a commerce degree while competing.
Career
She won the senior national singles title in April 2022, ending years of dominance by older players, and defended it later.
At Birmingham she partnered the veteran Sharath Kamal, sixteen years her senior, in the mixed doubles. They beat Malaysia’s Javen Choong and Karen Lyne in the final to win gold. In the singles she finished fourth after losing two close matches.
She won two WTT Feeder titles early in 2024 and in June won the WTT Contender in Lagos, Nigeria, in both singles and doubles, the first Indian to win a Contender singles title. She rose into the world’s top 25 and became India’s number one. At the Paris Olympics she reached the round of 16 on her 26th birthday, where she lost to the world number one, Sun Yingsha of China, after holding game points in the first two games. She was also part of the Indian women’s team that reached the Olympic quarter-finals and won bronze at the Asian Championships.
Personal Life
Sreeja works as an officer with the Reserve Bank of India in Hyderabad. She has spoken of using meditation and a mental trainer to handle pressure.
Awards and Honours
Major Medals
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Sreeja Akula born?
Sreeja Akula was born on 31 July 1998 in Hyderabad, India and is 28 years old.
Featured image: Sreeja Akula receives the Arjuna Award from President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, 30 November 2022. Photo by President’s Secretariat, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
