SMALL GIRL, BIG HONOUR

 

 

Homogenous, undeviating, unfailing or true to type can mean the same thing in any dictionary. Rarely do we use these words together in one sentence to describe a person. But Mouma Das is atypical in this cut-throat world of sports and deserves all these synonyms and more together in a single sentence.

 

Mouma, the newest Arjuna Award winner, from table tennis fraternity completes the two dozens of players having been bestowed with the honour from the sport.  The award may have come the diminutive player’s way a little too late in her career, but she is not the one to crib about or lose sleep over it. As always, the Kolkata girl is contended and feels honoured.

 

 

“I’m immensely happy. The award is for my perseverance and consistency,” says the 29-year-old sports officer of Oil India.  “I would like to dedicate the award to my parents, my uncle Dilip Das, who is also my first coach, and my husband’s family. They have been my pillar of strength throughout in shaping my career,” adds the soft-spoken Mouma.

 

In fact, Mouma was a bit surprised when the announcement came. “I knew the federation (TTFI) had recommended my name for the honour. But I was not unduly worried about it (the award). My husband (Kanchan Chakraborty) and the family just egged on me to continue the good work saying awards and rewards would follow. How true they have turned out to be,” she wonders, keeping her emotions intact.

 

 

One look at her career graph will prove how dedicated Mouma has been all these years with the sole intention of winning medals for the country. Her performance at the Melbourne CWG and the subsequent one at New Delhi in 2010, where she helped India to silver medal (team) and bronze (women’s doubles) were the defining moments in her career. From there, Mouma never looked back, helping herself and the Petroleum team that she represents to many a crown.  

 

Even before that the pony-tailed girl had been an achiever par excellence. A four-time national title holder, she had run many top paddlers of the country close and finished runner-up five times in senior national championships. Mouma, who is an Olympian-she participated at the Athens Games in 2004-became a champion as a nine-year-old when she participated in a local club event organised by Narkel Danga Sadharan Samity in Kolkata way back in 1993. Four years later, she made her international debut and was a quarter-finalist in the Commonwealth Championships in 1997. One year later, she won her first medals-won bronze in women’s doubles and in team event-to mark her arrival on the scene. Since then she has been a regular on the international circuit, winning several medals for the country.

 

 

As for her national appearances, she has been an inspiration for many contemporaries and the up-and-coming paddlers. Mouma Di, to several of her team mates, the Oil India player credits her success to many in her life, particularly the TTFI for finding talent and encouraging her with foreign exposures, national coach Bhawani Mukherjee, the SAI authorities at camps, her coaches and team mates at the Petroleum unit and, most importantly, her mother Rita Das. “They have all done their bit of sacrifices, my mom particularly in my early days, and now my husband, Kanchan,” Mouma recalls.

 

 

For the record, Mouma became the second consecutive woman paddler to get the Arjuna after Poulomi Ghatak received it in 2009. Prior to that, the award went to three male players-Achanta Sharath Kamal, Soumyadeep Roy and Subhajit Saha-between 2004 and 2007.