In less than a month from now, Mouma Das will be off to her second Olympics in 12 years. At 32, she is among the most durable champions the country has seen in women’s table tennis.
After her international debut in 1997, Mouma has played in 15 World championships too. However, her best world-ranking of 145 reflects the stagnation in her career.
On the brighter side, the five-time National champion — she has made 10 final appearances — is known to work harder on her fitness than any of her peers. Ahead of the Rio Olympics, Mouma is working almost nine hours a day.
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“I am training at the Salt Lake Stadium (in Kolkata) with coach Debabrata Chakraborty. I feel, with age, my strokes have become a bit slower, but I am working on it,” said Mouma, talking about on her preparations.
As sparring partners, Mouma has a pack of young National-ranked players who help sharpen her strokes.
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“I am quite happy with the training done so far. I have the help of a physio, and I maintain the recommended diet in order to be at my peak fitness in Rio.”
It may be recalled that Mouma lost to Manika Batra in the race for an Olympic berth from the South Asian region, in Hong Kong, in April.
Her world ranking, however, provided her a second opportunity.
Mouma grabbed one of the two remaining berths by winning the Loser’s final. She rallied to defeat the lower-ranked Uzbek Rimma Gufranova 11-13, 11-9, 13-11, 11-7, 12-10.
Having qualified, Mouma could have made use of the Rs. 30 lakh offered under the Union Government’s TOP scheme, but chose to train in Kolkata which she finds “very cheap compared to other places.”
As Mouma explained, “So far I have received around Rs. 16 lakh but I will be returning the unspent amount. I have rented a room closer to the training venue at Salt Lake so it saves me time, travelling from home that is 30 kms away.
“I want to do better in Rio compared to what I did in 2004 in Athens. I was very young then, and in awe of the occasion. This time, I want to give it my all without getting intimidated,” said the OIL India employee.
Though not much is expected from Mouma, she is working hard to give her best on the world’s biggest stage.