Rising tennis star Sreeja Akula revealed about not receiving her prize money for her wins at the Senior National Championships earlier this year. She informed the media that she hadn’t received the prize money for singles and doubles’ wins at the national event and has been facing unclear delays in the same.
“It’s not a small amount. I should get more than ₹2 lakhs. We keep sending emails but get no proper reply," Sreeja told The Indian Express.
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The 24-year-old represented the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the final of women’s singles at the national tournament and had beaten 38-year-old Mouma Das by 4-1. However, in doubles final, she had teamed up with Ayikha Mukherjee where they defeated RSPB pair of Takeme Sarkar and Prapti Sen.
Akula told the media that while Mouma Das and most men’s singles medallists have received their payments but she did not. Also, there is no clarification as to why the payments have not been made yet.
She said that she had even written a letter to the CoA and the Meghalaya association asking why she hadn’t got her payment but to no avail. She is still waiting for at least a reasonable answer for the same.
Akula is one of the rising stars in table tennis in India. She has won many tournaments and have also scripted history by winning the elusive gold medal for India in the mixed doubles category, at Commonwealth Games 2022.
She was also the winner in singles and doubles events at the 2022 Senior National Championships held in April. However, in the recently held National Games 2022, she lost to Sutirtha Mukherjee in the final of women’s singles where the latter defeated her 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, 12-14, 11-9.
At present, the 24-year old is one of the top ranked women’s table tennis players in the country and looks forward to add more feathers to her cap. In a recent interview to News18, she talked about her next big target.
“I am aiming to enter the top 50 for the World Rankings. I’m currently placed at 73 so the next target is to breach the top 50 in the next few months and then gradually enter the top 30 in future," said Akula.
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