Like the male players, a few female talents have also come into the limelight in Chennai’s Table Tennis scene. There have been players like Vidya Ramachandran, Pallavi Hari, Arul Selvi, Bhuvaneshwari and M.S. Mythili who performed with distinction for Tamil Nadu in national level competitions and represented the country too in the past. A Chennai girl residing in Anna Nagar, 19-year-old paddler Shriya Anand, is now being seen as a very promising talent by her coach – former India and Tamil Nadu star Sharath Kamal, at his SK Academy.
Shriya’s parents are doctors. Her mother Dr. Mekhala, who spoke to Madras Musings, said that they had shifted to Chennai from their native Tiruchirapalli so that Shriya’s development in the sport could be on professional lines under the guidance of good coaches. Sure enough, Shriya with her all round game, started winning multiple national and international level competitions. In 2024, Shriya emerged as the youngest women’s state champion as well as the Under 15 and Under 17 champion.
Talking to Madras Musings she says, “My goal is to bring glory to India at the global level. I have already been playing against some international players, including Olympians.” Her current world ranking in the Under 19 age group Singles is 38. Her mother adds that “Shriya is training intensively with this goal, and to play in more international competitions, including the Olympics.”
Shriya’s achievements till date include a silver medal in the 2026 World Table Tennis Youth Contender at Novi Sad, Serbia in the Under 19 Girls Singles. In the 2025 edition of this competition in Georgia, Shriya won the gold medal. At Amman, in the Jordan edition of this competition, Shriya won bronze, at Panagyurishte in Bulgaria she won the bronze medal in the Under 19 mixed doubles event. In the same tournament in 2022 at Morocco, Shriya won a bronze medal in the Under 17 age group Singles category. And, at the 2018 Prague Grand Prix Table Tennis tournament in the Czech Republic, Shriya bagged the gold in the Under 12 Girls Singles, kicking off her successful climb in winning tough competitions.
“Winning a gold medal in the Olympics and the World Table Tennis Championship and emerging as a role model for aspiring younger players is my ultimate goal,” says Shriya, whose current national ranking is 12.
At the national level, Shriya has represented Tamil Nadu in the Khelo India Games in 2022 and 2023 and in the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) national championships between 2018 and 2025 and bagged silver and bronze medals in the Under 12, Under 15, Under 17 and Under 19 age group Singles and Doubles competitions.