Table Tennis World Team C’ships: Ayhika Mukherjee stuns world No 1 Sun Yingsha, Sreeja Akula beats No 2 Wang Yidi

On Friday morning in Busan, Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula produced something that not many would have seen coming. Incredible doesn’t quite begin to describe it as the Indian paddlers beat the top two players in the world – No 1 Sun Yingsha and No 2 Wang Yidi – in their respective singles matches at at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals 2024 in a Group 1 fixture between India and China.

Ultimately, the powerhouses would come through as Manika Batra lost matches No 2 and 4, while Ayhika couldn’t quite pull off another upset against Wang Manyu, world No 4 in the decider. But, the overall result notwithstanding, the two upsets marked a monumental morning for the sport. “What an unbelievable morning,” tweeted Olympian Neha Aggarwal Sharma when India led the tie 2-1. “It’s a score we have been waiting to see for so many years.”

It was only in Hangzhou recently that Ayhika – alongside her childhood friend Sutirtha Mukherjee – stunned the table tennis community and grabbed headlines. The childhood friends from Naihati, who began playing table tennis because their mothers introduced them to the sport, produced arguably the single-most stunning result for India at the Asian Games. Chinese paddlers simply don’t lose very often, let alone in their own backyard. And so the win for the Mukherjees, not related to each other, against reigning world champions and then world number 2 Chinese duo of Chen Meng and Wang Yidi in the quarterfinals was seismic. It assured India’s first in women’s doubles at the Asian Games.

Scorecard of both the games. (Screengrab)

Then there is Sreeja, who made her mark at the previous multi-nation event in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games. The national champion had a breakthrough tournament, her mixed doubles gold with Achanta Sharath Kamal one of India’s more memorable medals from the event. The Telangana youngster has had a busy time recently, travelling constantly in the quest of ranking points. Some doubts had crept in as she was unable to make a big splash on the international circuit but the decision to play a lower-tier WTT event in Texas proved to be crucial as she won the title in Corpus Christi. It gave her the belief that she could win an international tournament by beating top players.

Having made their marks on the podium at these two major events in the last couple of years, both Ayhika and Sreeja scripted possibly their biggest wins individually.

First, the 26-year-old Ayhika beat world No 1 Sun Yinghsa in four games to give India a 1-0 lead. Soon after, Sreeja stunned world No 2 Wang Yidi – who was also at the receiving end of the Mukherjees’ upset in Hangzhou – in straight games to put India in a surreal position against the serial world champions, leading 2-1.

It was only in January last year that Ayhika thought her career was over. “I’ve seen table tennis players being forced to retire due to lower back injuries. I thought the same would happen to me and there was no way I was going to bounce back from this,” Ayhika had said after the bronze in Hangzhou with Sutirtha.

But she showed plenty of grit and resolve against Sun in the tie-opener. She pumped her fist as she saved three game points in the opener, winning five in a row to take it 12-10. The second game was one-way traffic as Sun breezed through 11-2 and then had a 9-5 lead in Game 3. Ayhika once again fought back, taking the third game 13-11. In the fourth game, the Indian once again finished strongly with five points in a row from 6-6. The result was a first-ever defeat for Sun in team World Championship events for China, as per WTT.

Perfect record COLLAPSED 🤯

Ayhika Mukherjee hands Sun Yingsha her first defeat EVER at a teams event at #ITTFWorlds2024 😱

Can Team India take down the defending champions? Tune in LIVE at https://t.co/WzpUvKTnKl to find out 📺 #Busan2024 #TableTennis #PingPong pic.twitter.com/tGv0PN6mq3

— World Table Tennis (@WTTGlobal) February 16, 2024

In the second match, Manika Batra took a game off Wang Manyu but went down in four. Sreeja was in action next and Wang Yidi was defeated in straight games, as the Indian produced a forehand masterclass to pocket the first two games 11-7 and 11-9. Sreeja led 8-2 in the third game and the finish line was in sight but Wang Yidi fought back to have a game point at 10-9. It was the forehand that once again came to her rescue as Sreeja made it 10-10, and it would be a magnificent inside-out forehand winner that gave her a match point that she converted. There was barely a celebration from the Indian though, but it was a massive win for, continuing her good run of recent form.

The Worlds in Busan is a crucial event as Indian teams can also qualify for the Olympics if they reach their respective quarterfinals. “For India to qualify for the Olympics as a team, we need to get our individual ranking higher. The cut-off for qualification is mid-June so I’m ready to play any tournaments, not just contenders but feeders as well,” Sreeja had told The Indian Express in Goa recently. “Last year in the team championships we lost in the pre-quarterfinals to Chinese Taipei but this year everyone in the team has been performing well. Our rankings also are collectively much better so we’re confident of making it to Paris.”

The other teams in Group 1 that the Indian women will face are Hungary, Spain and Uzbekistan. Indian men are in Group 3 with Korea, Poland, Chile and New Zealand. Top three from each group enter the next phase of 24 teams, while the last eight seal their tickets to Paris.

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