TT: Mouma, Manika bow out of Olympics after first round losses

India's Mouma Das and debutant Manika Batra crashed out in the first round of the women's singles table tennis competition at the Olympics here on Saturday.

World No.150 Mouma failed to put up a fight against World No.58 Romania's Daniela Dodean Monteiro, as the Indian went down 2-11, 7-11, 7-11, 3-11 to bow out of the competition.

This is Mouma's second Olympic appearance after her debut in Athens 12 years ago. As a veteran paddler, Mouma was pipped to put up a strong fight but all hopes were dashed after her first round exit at the hands of Daniela.

Olympic debutant Manika gave a good fight but went down 2-4 to a superior 60th-ranked Katarzyna Franc-Grzybowska of Poland.

Manika lost 12-10, 6-11, 12-14, 11-8, 4-11, 12-14 to her opponent but will leave the Games with head held high because of her performance as a debutant.

Later on Saturday, Sharath Kamal and Soumyajit Ghosh will play the men's singles first round matches here.

It is the first time that four Indian paddlers qualified for the Summer Olympic Games.

--IANS

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