by Simon Daish
The 1997 World Championships in Manchester was Mouma Das’ first appearance at the tournament, and she has been a familiar fixture at the event ever since having made a total of 15 appearances across both the individuals World Championships and World Team Championships.
Set to participate at the individuals competition for the eighth occasion and bringing her total number of World Championships appearances up to 16 which is a record for an Asian player, Mouma Das has stated in a report on the OneIndia website that while she is delighted to be heading to the World Championships yet again, she is also aware that good preparations is key to enjoying a successful campaign.
“No doubt, I am feeling good that even at this age I am being able to earn a place in the senior national squad where my teammates like Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar and Ayhika Mukherjee are almost half of my age. But at the same time, I should not sit and only cherish the feat. I am concentrating on the preparatory camp with an aim to deliver my best…”, Mouma Das.
Throughout her career in the sport Mouma Das has provided Indian table tennis fans with plenty of celebratory moments and is a winner of 17 Commonwealth Games medals.
Mouma Das has also featured at the Olympic Games twice at Athens 2004 and Rio 2016, and was a member of the India squad which won the Women’s 2nd Division title at the Perfect 2016 World Team Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The Liebherr 2017 World Championships seeding list for the Women’s Doubles competition was unveiled in early May with Mouma Das and her partner Manika Batra being named in 13th position, and the Indian pairing head into the event with optimism having received words of encouragement from head coach Massimo Costantini.
“We both are inspired by the ranking list. Our newly appointed Italian coach also has been encouraging us saying that even in a tournament like the World Championships, we might make upsets. That is why following his advice we are going to Germany at least two weeks before the championship to acclimatise to the weather and environment”, Mouma Das.
