It is going to be the first time an Indian table tennis player will be playing in the women’s singles final of a World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender tournament. Sreeja Akula has brought a memorable day in Indian table tennis, reaching the final of WTT Contender in Lagos, Nigeria on Saturday, defeating her teammate Sutirtha Mukherjee in the last-four. 

Significantly, Sutirtha exhibited a sparkling performance in the quarter-final and outclassed the world's eighth-ranked paddler South Korea's Shiun Yubin by 3-2 (11-9, 3-11, 0-11, 11-9, 11-6). 

It was also memorable for Indian table tennis as a total of seven Indian players — one in the women’s singles final, both pairs in the women’s doubles finals, and one pair in the men’s doubles final — qualified for the title clashes of the in Lagos, Nigeria.

The Indian contingent is competing at a WTT tournament for the first time under recently-appointed head coach Massimo Costantini, who is in his third stint as India's coach. The Italian said that he aims to make India among the top-3 in Asia and the tournament in Lagos has been a promising start. A bit historic too, since, though one wouldn't look much into it given that the level of playing field wasn't extraordinary. 

India could’ve had two players in that final but Ayhika Mukherjee lost her semifinal tie against 16-year-old Chinese Ding Yijie, who is ranked outside the top 500 in the world.

The only disappointment was in the men’s singles event where none of the players got past the quarterfinal stage. This tournament in Lagos is part of India’s preparation camp ahead of the Olympics.

Incidentally, India’s number one-ranked youth paddler Ankur Bhattacharya, partnering with Pritha Vartikar clinched the mixed doubles crown in the WTT under-19 Youth Contender Lima, Peru. They defeated the partners of Leonardo Iizuka and Giulia Takahashi by 3-2 in the final. 

Ankur and Pritha won the mixed doubles also in their last competition, the South Asian Table Tennis Championship.