Table Tennis World C'ships: Sreeja Akula exits in the round of 128

India's Sreeja Akula had a disappointing first round loss at the 2025 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships in Doha, Qatar on Sunday.

The highest-ranked Indian women's singles paddler lost out 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 5-11, 2-11 after being a game up against Suthasini Sawettabut of Thailand in 33 minutes.

Sreeja started the match in a composed manner and played a few good cross-table shots and efficiently used her defensive blocks to stop the aggressive game style of Suthasini to win the first game 11-9.

The second game was also very closely poised, with both players keeping themsleves within the reach but in the end Sreeja lost three points in a row and lost 8-11.

This reversal completely diminished Sreeja's momentum, who could not make a comeback and lost the next three games without putting much pressure on Suthasini and dropping the match 1-4.

The other two Indian singles player, Manush Shah in men's singles and Diya Chitale in women's singles, began their campaign with wins against Portugese and Spanish opponents respectively.

Three doubles pairs in the second round

In the doubles categories, India had a comparatively better day as they won all three first-round matches of the day, two in women's doubles and one in men's doubles.

The Asian Games medallist pair of Ayhika and Sutirtha ended their six-match losing streak to progress to the next round with a five-game thrilling win over the less experienced Turkish pair of Ozge Yilmaz and Ece Harac.

In addition, the second Indian women's doubles pair of Diya Chitale and Yashaswini Ghodpade also moved to the second round with a 4-game (9-11, 11-2, 11-9, 11-8) win against Uzbekistan.

In the men's doubles, the Indian duo of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah registered an easy straight-game (11-7, 11-8, 11-6) win over the Slovenian pair of Deni Kozul and Peter Hribar.