Mouma Das
Mouma Das is an Indian table tennis player. Born and brought up in Kolkata, West Bengal, she has represented India in international events since the early 2000s. Das has won multiple medals at the Commonwealth Games including a gold in the Women's Team Competition in 2018. She was awarded the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting honour in 2013 for her contributions to the sport.
Das participated in the 2004 Olympic Games where she competed in the singles table tennis competition; she made her second appearance at the event in the 2016 edition after a gap of 12 years. Das reached the quarterfinals of the women's doubles event at the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships partnering Manika Batra; the duo became the first Indian pair to do so. The pair also won the silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Career
Das made her first World Table Tennis Championship appearance in the year 1997, at Manchester, and went on to reach the third round before bowing out. She did not participate the following year, because of an injury. In the subsequent world meets, Das either represented India as a singles player or as the team member: Kuala Lumpur, Osaka, Paris, Doha, Bremen, Zagreb, Guangzhou, Yokohama, Moscow, Rotterdam, Dortmund, Paris, Suzhou, Kuala Lumpur, Düsseldorf, Halmstad without missing any championships. She registered the highest caps at the Championships, with 17 appearances. Das and Thailand's Komwon Nanthana have both represented their country 17 times each, the maximum by any Asian in both sections.Das won her 1st International Gold medal in 2nd Children of Asia International Sports Games'2000 in Yakutsk.
At the December 2015 Commonwealth Championships, Das claimed a silver in the singles event along with team medal and became the maximum Commonwealth medal winning Indian Table Tennis player.
Das qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics at the Asian Qualification Tournament held in Hong Kong in April 2015. However, her appearance at the 2016 Olympics short-lived, as she lost to higher seeded Daniela Dodean of Romania in the first round of the women's individual event.
For the Indian table tennis fraternity, ITTF World Tours have never been easy. But things were very different this time in Olomouc, a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. Mouma Das and Manika Batra, the new and heroic women's doubles pair of India, lifted their game by several notches to reach the semi-finals for the first time at an ITTF World Tour.
Indian star table tennis duo of Mouma Das and Manika Batra reached a world ranking of 12 in the latest ITTF rankings which is the best among 28 Commonwealth countries that play the sport on the big stages.
In 2017 ITTF Challenge Spanish Open Indian pair of Manika Batra and Mouma Das, seeded second, went down to the top-seed Korean duo of Jihee Jeon and Haeun Yang 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11 in a thrilling women doubles final.it was a creditable performance by the Indians who forced the issue to the last two points to become the first Indian women's pair to finish with the silver medal in an ITTF Challenge series. Later that year, Das made her 50th Final in Annual Inter State & Senior National Table Tennis Championship in Ranchi; she also won Gold medal in the team event, where she represented PSPB.
Das was a part of the Women's team that won the Gold medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games; the Indian team defeated Singapore in the final with a score of 3-1 to secure the first Gold medal for the country in the event. Das won the women's doubles match partnering Madhurika Patkar to give India the lead in the tie. En route to the Gold medal, the first by any nation other Singapore, India defeated the top seeded English team in semi-finals.Presently she is an employee of OIL.
Records and statistics
Top RecordsSl. | For | Total Numbers | References |
1 | Most Participation in World Championship by an Indian & Asian TT Player | 17 | |
2 | Most Medals in Commonwealth TT by an Indian TT Player | 19 | |
3 | Most Gold hat-trick in Senior Nationals | 7 | |
4 | Most Gold in South Asian Games by a TT Player | 8 | |
5 | Twice Gold hat-trick in South Asian Games by a TT Player | 2004 & 2006 | |
6 | Single's Gold hat-trick in South Asian Games by a TT Player | 2004,2006 & 2016 | |
7 | Most Gold Medals in Senior Nationals | 32 | |
8 | Most number of Finalist in senior National | 51 | |
9 | Highest number of representation for Indian Team | 1997 onwards | |
10 | Commonwealth Most number of finalist Indian women TT player | 2010 2013 2015 & 2018 - 7 Times | |
11 | Twice medals in all 4 events of Commonwealth TT Championship | 2013 & 2015 | |
12 | World Table Tennis Championship Gold in Team Events | 2004 & 2016 | |
13 | Total number of Gold in National & International Events | 100+ |
Commonwealth Table Tennis
Following are finishes at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships and the Commonwealth Games.Year | Competition | Medal | Event | References |
2001 | Championship | Bronze | Team | |
2004 | Championship | Bronze | Team | |
2004 | Championship | Bronze | Doubles | |
2006 | Games | Bronze | Team | |
2007 | Championship | Bronze | Team | |
2009 | Championship | Bronze | Team | |
2009 | Championship | Bronze | Single | |
2010 | Games | Silver | Team | |
2010 | Games | Bronze | Doubles | |
2013 | Championship | Silver | Mixed Doubles | |
2013 | Championship | Bronze | Doubles | |
2013 | Championship | Bronze | Team | |
2013 | Championship | Bronze | Single | |
2015 | Championship | Bronze | Doubles | |
2015 | Championship | Silver | Mixed Doubles | |
2015 | Championship | Silver | Team | |
2015 | Championship | Silver | Singles | |
2018 | Games | Gold | Team | |
2018 | Games | Silver | Doubles | |
2018 | Games | - | - | - |
2018 | Games | - | - | - |
Gold Hat-Trick in Annual Senior Table Tennis Championship
Year | Event | Event | Event | References |
2000 | Team | Doubles | Mixed Doubles | |
2001 | Team | Singles | Doubles | |
2002 | Team | Doubles | Mixed Doubles | |
2005 | Team | Singles | Doubles | |
2006 | Team | Singles | Doubles | |
2010 | Team | Doubles | Mixed Doubles | |
2014 | Team | Singles | Doubles |
Indian Senior National Championships & National Games Individual Events
Year | Medal | Event | Ref |
1996 | Silver | Championship-Single | |
1998 | Silver | Championship-Single | |
1999 | Gold | Championship-Single | |
1999 | Gold | Games-Single | |
2001 | Gold | Championship-Single | |
2002 | Silver | Championship-Single | |
2002 | Gold | Games-Single | |
2004 | Silver | Championship-Single | |
2005 | Gold | Championship-Single | |
2006 | Gold | Championship-Single | |
2008 | Silver | Championship-Single | |
2014 | Gold | Championship-Single |
World Table Tennis Championship
Year | Location | References |
1997 | Manchester-ENGLAND | |
2000 | Kuala Lumpur-MALAYSIA | |
2001 | Osaka-JAPAN | |
2003 | Paris-FRANCE | |
2004 | Doha-QATAR | |
2006 | Bremen-GERMANY | |
2007 | Zagreb-CROATIA | |
2008 | Guangzhou-CHINA | |
2009 | Yokohama-JAPAN | |
2010 | Moscow-RUSSIA | |
2011 | Rotterdam-NETHERLANDS | |
2012 | Dortmund-GERMANY | |
2013 | Paris-FRANCE | |
2015 | Suzhou-CHINA | |
2016 | Kuala Lumpur-MALAYSIA | |
2017 | Düsseldorf-GERMANY | |
2018 | Halmstad-SWEDEN |