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On Friday morning in Busan, Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula produced something that not many would have anticipated. Incredible doesn’t begin to describe it, as the Indian paddlers defeated the two best players in the world, No. 1 Sun Yingsha and No. 2 Wang Yidi, in their respective singles matches in the final of the World Table Tennis Team Championship. ITTF 2024 in a Group 1 Match between India and China.
In the end, the powerhouses recovered as Manika Batra lost the No. 2 and No. 4 matches, while Ayhika failed to pull off another upset against world No. 4 Wang Manyu in the decider. But, despite the overall result, the two surprises marked a monumental morning for the sport. “What an incredible morning,” Olympian Neha Aggarwal Sharma tweeted as India led the tie 2-1. “It’s a result we’ve been waiting to see for so many years.”
Recently, in Hangzhou, Ayhika, along with her childhood friend Sutirtha Mukherjee, surprised the table tennis community and made headlines. Naihati’s childhood friends, who took up table tennis because their mothers introduced them to the sport, produced arguably the most surprising result for India at the Asian Games. Chinese paddlers just don’t lose very often, let alone in their own backyard. And so, the unrelated Mukherjees’ victory against the reigning world champions and then the world No. 2 Chinese duo of Chen Meng and Wang Yidi in the quarterfinals was seismic. She secured India’s first place in women’s doubles at the Asian Games.
Then there is Sreeja, who made her mark at the previous multinational event in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games. The national champion had a great tournament, her gold in mixed doubles and Achanta Sharath Kamal was one of India’s most memorable medal winners in the event. The Telangana youngster has had a busy time of late, constantly traveling in search of ranking points. Some doubts had been raised as he failed to make a big splash on the international circuit, but the decision to play a lower level WTT event in Texas proved crucial as he won the title in Corpus Christi. He made him believe that he could win an international tournament by beating the best players.
Having made their mark on the podium at both of these major events in the last few years, both Ayhika and Sreeja achieved arguably their biggest wins individually.
First, Ayhika, 26, beat world number one Sun Yinghsa in four matches to give India a 1-0 lead. Soon after, Sreeja stunned world No. 2 Wang Yidi, who was also on the receiving end of the Mukherjees’ upset in Hangzhou, in straight games to put India in a surreal position against the serial world champions, leading 2-1 .
It wasn’t until January last year that Ayhika thought her career was over. “I have seen table tennis players be forced to retire due to lower back injuries. I thought the same thing would happen to me and there was no way to recover from this,” Ayhika had said after the bronze in Hangzhou with Sutirtha.
But he showed a lot of courage and determination against Sun in the first knockout match. She pumped her fist as she saved three game points in the first match, winning five in a row to take the score to 12-10. The second game was a one-way game as Sun took a 11-2 lead and then took a 9-5 lead in Game 3. Ayhika once again fought back and took the third game 13-11. In the fourth game, the Indian again finished strongly with five points in a row at 6-6. The result was Sun’s first loss in World Team Championship events for China, according to WTT.
In the second match, Manika Batra took a game from Wang Manyu but fell in four. Sreeja was next in action and Wang Yidi was beaten in straight games, as the Indian produced a forehand masterclass to bag the first two games 11-7 and 11-9. Sreeja led 8-2 in the third game and the finish line was in sight, but Wang Yidi fought back to have a game point at 10-9. It was the forehand that once again came to her rescue as Sreeja made the score 10-10, and it would be a magnificent forehand winner that gave him a match point which he converted. However, there was hardly a celebration for the Indian, but it was a great victory to continue her good run of recent form.
The Busan World Cup is a crucial event as Indian teams can also qualify for the Olympics if they reach their respective quarter-finals. “For India to qualify for the Olympics as a team, we need to improve our individual ranking. The deadline for qualification is mid-June, so I am ready to play any tournament, not just the contenders but also the feeders,” Sreeja had told The Indian Express in Goa recently. “Last year, in the team championship, we lost in the quarterfinals to Chinese Taipei, but this year everyone on the team has performed well. Our rankings are also much better overall, so we are confident of making it to Paris.”
The other Group 1 teams that the Indians will face are Hungary, Spain and Uzbekistan. The Indian men are in Group 3 with Korea, Poland, Chile and New Zealand. The top three in each group advance to the next phase of 24 teams, while the bottom eight seal their ticket to Paris.