The success for Sharath Kamal Achanta was followed with success for Mouma Das after she duly succeeded in a hard-fought contest today. The Kolkata born-paddler got the better of Gufranova Rimma 11-13,11-9;13-11;11-7 12-10 in five sets to book an August date at Rio de Janerio.
With that, a successful venture comes to an end for India at the 2016 ITTF-Asian Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Hong Kong.
Four Indian paddlers (Soumyajit Ghosh, Achanta Sharath Kamala, Manika Batra, and Mouma Das) have booked Rio 2016 berths. They can be a strong contender to Chinese dominance in the days to come.
Soumyajit Ghosh and Manika Batra have booked their Olympic tickets by winning their respective groups already.
The signs are positive
Mouma Das, who played at the 2004 Athens Olympics has been a key figure in the Indian table tennis scene.
Earlier in the day, Mouma drawn in group A, lost to North Korean Ri Myong Sun after receiving byes in the first two rounds. But she emerged successful in the vital deciding match against her opponent from Uzbekistan.
Let’s hope the 32-year-old paddler puts up a spirited performance in the 2016 Rio Olympics and then departs the scene in a graceful fashion
Only time will tell, but the signs are certainly positive.
