<p>Paris: India’s top-ranked table tennis player Sreeja Akula entered the round of 32 with a clinical 4-0 win over <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/sweden">Sweden</a>’s Christina Kallberg at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.Sreeja surpasses Manika as India's No.1 TT player.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>But a powerful unanswered forehand to the right corner of the table propelled Sreeja to the next round.</p>.<p>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.</p>
<p>Paris: India’s top-ranked table tennis player Sreeja Akula entered the round of 32 with a clinical 4-0 win over <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/sweden">Sweden</a>’s Christina Kallberg at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.Sreeja surpasses Manika as India's No.1 TT player.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>But a powerful unanswered forehand to the right corner of the table propelled Sreeja to the next round.</p>.<p>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.</p>