Sreeja’s qualification placement raises eyebrows

Minutes before the Under-17 boys’ and girls’ finals at the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis tournament at The Sportz Hub on Friday (August 21, 2026), Sreeja Akula was completing her final qualification-round match.

The India women’s captain for the Asian Games, ranked No. 57 in the world, made short work of Shivasri S. to enter the main draw before returning to the gallery to support fellow coach Somnath Ghosh’s protégé Vivaan Dave in the Under-17 boys’ final.

While Sreeja had no qualms about starting from the qualifiers, the sight of India’s highest-ranked women’s paddler doing so did not sit well with some veterans.

“It is ridiculous to see India’s top player being made to play the qualifiers,” said former international Sunil Babras, now a coach with the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board.

Competition manager N. Ganesan, however, said the technical team was “merely following the tournament prospectus”.

The prospectus, based on a TTFI AGM decision in July 2024, stipulates that players ranked in the “ITTF top 50 at the time of the first draw” receive the top seeding, with the remaining seeding determined by the “latest national rankings”. The top 16 players in the domestic rankings are then seeded accordingly.

Sreeja’s domestic ranking slipped to No. 27 after injuries and international commitments restricted her participation only to the Senior Nationals during the previous season.

This is not the first such instance. A. Sharath Kamal also began the 2021 edition from the qualifiers before going on to win the title.

Dave and Bhowmick clinch titles

Eighth seed Vivaan Dave ended his dream run in boys’ under-17 in style, while Divyanshi Bhowmick justified her top billing by claiming the singles titles.

Results

Under-17: Boys: Final: Vivaan Dave (Guj) bt Atharva Nawarange (Kar) 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4; Semifinals: Vivaan bt Vishruth Ramakrishnan (TN) 11-7, 10-12, 11-8, 11-7; Atharva bt Prateek Tulsani (Mah) 7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-8.

Under-17: Girls: Final: Divyanshi Bhowmick (Mah) bt Ananya Muralidharan (TN) 11-6, 9-11, 12-10, 11-3; Semifinals: Divyanshi bt Ankolika Chakraborty (WB) 14-12, 11-8, 11-4; Ananya bt Naisha Rewaskar (Mah) 5-11, 16-14, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8.