Pratha Pawar: The teenager who gave Sreeja Akula a run for her money at nationals

At just 16, Pawar faced an Olympian for the first time in her burgeoning career, and the teenager didn’t shy away from the pressure.

She delivered a thrilling performance that kept fans on the edge of their seats—until the moment she fell just short.

The youngster from Gujarat had three match points as she led 10-7 in the decider before Akula brought out her much-feared attacking game to win five consecutive points and take the game 12-10. The 27-year-old Akula won the match 3-2 in the women’s singles Round of 64.

“Initially, I did not expect her to play so well,” said Akula to The Bridge after the match. “It was a bit odd [Pratha’s game style] but it was a very effective game.”

Akula, the highest-ranked women’s singles paddler in India currently, was visibly troubled by her opponent’s backhand play.

Pratha was always right on the money in longer rallies, consistently landing the ball exactly where she wanted to trouble her senior counterpart. If her control was good, her backhand was immaculate on the day though her father – Jitu Pawar – wasn’t too impressed on the coaching seat.

“Her consistency was very good,” said Akula. “I was not ready.

“I can say that her backhand troubled me a little bit,” she added with a chuckle.

Pratha, trained by Lalan Doshi – the famed coach of Paralympic medallist Bhavina Patel – opened Akula up on more than a few occasions in rallies until the nerves got the better of her.

“I was extremely excited that I was winning. But as the match neared the closing stages, the nerves got the better of me,” rued Pawar, holding back her disappointment.

Pratha, who has been training in table tennis for the last eight years, was introduced to the sport, but no one in her family had any idea about it by chance.

Her father Jitu runs a laundry business in Ahmedabad. His wife wanted to enroll their daughter in a sport, preferably cricket.

When the mother spoke to one of their clients – a table tennis coach named Bonil Sanghvi – about her wishes, he asked them to leave Pratha under his wings instead of being nudged into cricket. 

Thus started Pratha’s table tennis journey as an eight-year-old.

“Pratha was a quick learner,” the father recalled. “She covered everything Bonil sir had to teach, which people usually take up to three years to learn in just a year.

“That’s when Lalan Doshi noticed her and took her under him,” Jitu added.

Jitu now travels across the country taking his daughter from tournament to tournament – a life he had not quite imaged until a few years ago.

Finances continue to be a problem for Pratha’s career but with some support from a community welfare trust for state, and national level tournaments and coach Doshi able to bring in private sponsors for a few age-group international events, the father-daughter duo continue to aim for big.

Ask Pratha what her aim in table tennis is?

“An Olympic gold,” she shoots without any hesitation.

But Jitu knows it is a far thought. For now, he wants his daughter to get revenge over Akula the next season – that’s probably how long Pratha would have to wait to face the Olympian again.

From not making the cut to the Gujarat women’s team, which earned a historic bronze medal at the Table Tennis Nationals earlier this week, Pratha has made sure the sporting fraternity sits up and takes note.

“I noticed a lot of people watching [closing stages of her match with Akula] and that made me nervous,” quipped Pratha.

But the eyeballs are exactly what she needs to further climb up the Indian table tennis ladder.