New Delhi, Jan 30: India's star paddler Sreeja Akula has said that instead of fixating on results like the Olympics, she prioritises embracing and enjoying the process with passion, striving to get better each day and minimising unnecessary pressure on herself.

Sreeja, earlier this month, won her maiden international title after securing the top spot on the podium in the women’s singles event at the WTT Feeder Corpus Christi 2024 in Texas, USA.

En route to winning her maiden title, Sreeja defeated two higher-ranked players, including a three-time Olympian in the final. She backed it up quarterfinal finish at WTT Star Contender Goa in a strong field.

"I'm working on improving my mental strength. I focus sometimes on the end result. But I'm still trying to focus on improving my game every day, whenever I practice and I'm trying to improve my mental fitness. And my focus is just to enjoy the process for now. And if I think more about the Olympics and all that, it builds up more pressure on myself. So, I'm just trying to enjoy the process and improve every day," Sreeja told IANS.

When asked about enhancing her technical skills in the game, Shreeja shared insights into her continuous efforts to refine and elevate her performance. "Playing against Asians, I've realised that I need to be even more quick on the table, my reflexes have to be fast and quick on my feet. So, I'm trying to work on that aspect.

"And technically, I'm trying to get more variations in my game, because I have a defensive rubber on my backhand and an offensive rubber on my forehand. I'm trying to build in more variations in my game as well," said Sreeja, who trains under coach Somnath Ghosh.

After her phenomenal performances in two tournaments, the two-time reigning national champion leapt 15 places in the singles ranking and attained a career-best world no 51.

With the Olympic qualification cycle going on, next month's World Team Championships in Busan is the major tournament Sreeja is looking for as the eight quarterfinalists in each of the men’s and women’s events will gain places at the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games.

"The next major tournament for me is the World Team Championships, which is going to be held in February in Korea. So that is also a team qualification tournament for the Olympics. So, as a team, I think we are all doing really well. The whole women's team is confident, everybody is working hard to improve their game.

"We're all looking forward to the World Championships in February. And we hope the team qualifies this time. If it qualifies, then it would be the first time India would participate in the team events." said the Commonwealth Games medallist.

Sreeja, backed by the Dream Sports Foundation, revealed valuable lessons gained from the experienced Sharath Kamal, her partner in securing a mixed doubles gold at the 2022 CWG in Birmingham.

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"It was a great experience playing with such a legend. It was really fortunate. There were many learnings in the game he was always there supporting me for every point in the Commonwealth Games. I've learned to stick to my plan, like whatever the score might be, or whatever, whatever situation I'm in, I've learned to stick to what I've planned to do. And I think that that was the greatest learning I've learned from him," she concluded.

(IANS)

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