CWG medal was my best moment of life, playing with Sharath Kamal was amazing experience: Sreeja Akula

Commonwealth Games 2022, has said that playing with the Indian legend paddler was an amazing experience and she never felt that she was playing with such as senior player. Many were amazed by Akula's fortitude in the singles competition, but it was in the mixed doubles where she really excelled, teaming up with a renowned paddler. The Indian table tennis duo of Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula registered a 3-1 win over the Malaysian pair of Javen Choong and Karen Lyne 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6.

She missed the medal in the singles event by a little margin after failing in the bronze medal match against Australia's Yangzi Liu in a hard-fought battle 11-3, 6-11, 2-11, 11-7, 13-15, 11-9, 7-11. The 24-year-old played the entire match without giving up and made her opponent work hard for each and every point. The 24-year-old bounced back in the mixed doubles event to create history with the gold medal.

The young TT star opened up about how Sharath Kamal inspired her before the mixed doubles final. She talked about how the unexpected Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula's partnership was formed. "We initially played in 2019 and that was really unexpected as he was supposed to play with Manika Batra, but she fell sick in between the tournament.

So he prefered to play with me because I and Manika have the same playing style. This is the second time I played with him. After the national championships, my coach requested Sharath bhaiyya to play with me in the Commonwealth Games.

And that is when he agreed and spoke to the federation that he would like to team up with me. I feel really fortunate to play with such a senior player," Sreeja Akula told ANI. "Playing with Sharath Kamal was an amazing experience.