Mouma to receive Padma Shri

 

 

New Delhi: Veteran Mouma Das became the second table tennis player to be considered for the prestigious Padma Shri by the Government of India on the eve of the country's 72nd Republic Day. Achanta Sharath Kamal was the first paddler to receive the award in 2019.

 

Mouma will be conferred with the award by the President of India at a ceremonial function to be held at Rashtrapati Bhawan in March-April this year. 

 

Throughout her career in the sport, Mouma Das had provided Indian table tennis fans with plenty of celebratory moments, having won 17 Commonwealth Games medals. Mouma Das had also featured at the Olympic Games twice at Athens 2004 and Rio 2016 and had been a member of the Indian squad that won the Women’s 2nd Division title at the 2016 World Team Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

 

World Championships in Manchester was Mouma’s first appearance at the tournament in 1997 and ever since she had remained a familiar fixture at the event, having participated across both the individual and Team Championships. In her last appearance in 2017, she competed in the individual competition for the eighth occasion, setting a record of 16 appearances, the maximum for an Asian player at the Worlds.

 

Incidentally, Mouma had helped India win its first team gold in the 2018 Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast in Australia, her last major international event.