“I was so nervous and scared to play with Sharath Kamal at first” – Sreeja Akula on winning CWG 2022 mixed doubles gold

Indian table tennis player Sreeja Akula has admitted that she was nervous and scared to play with senior rower Sharath Kamal ahead of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022.

In April, Sreeja and Sharath posed together with trophies after winning the 83rd National Table Tennis Championship in women’s and men’s singles. Although it was Sharath’s 10th title, the youngster from Telangana won his maiden title.

Four months later, both players took part in the mixed doubles category of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. At the request of Sreeja’s coach Somnath Ghosh, Sharath, 40, agreed to team up with the 24-year-old at tent event.

Interestingly, Sreeja had just started playing table tennis at the age of eight when Sharath won his first two golds (singles and men’s team events) at the CWG in Melbourne in 2006. The age difference between the two paddlers is 16 years.

Speaking an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda At the Somnath Ghosh UTT Academy in Hyderabad, Sreeja revealed his nervousness while initially playing with his senior player. The 24-year-old said:

“I’m so young for him and he noticed that I’m not so free and a little scared when I play with him. That nervousness was there at first and he noticed it. He wanted to make a friendship so that I would be free and not so nervous when I played.”

Sreeja further mentioned how her coach and mental coach helped bridge the communication gap between India’s newly-minted mixed doubles partners. He explained:

“Even during the Commonwealth Games, I had that feeling for a few matches. Maybe in the quarterfinals, I became free. We both have the same mental coach, Mrs. Gayatri Vartak.”

He added:

“Through him and my coach, we used to stay in touch. Like all the difficulties I had in sharing with Sharath Bhaiya, I shared my case with my spiritual coach or coach and they used to tell him. So it was like a four-way communication between us.