HONG KONG, April 16: India�s table-tennis ace Achanta Sharath Kamal and Mouma Das today booked their tickets to Rio Olympics after winning their respective final rounds in Stage 2 of the Asia Olympic Qualification tournament here.
Brushing aside his four-year-old London disappointment and the third-place finish in the South Asia Zone qualifiers just a couple of days ago, Sharath fought his way back in the decisive final round contest in Hong Kong�s Queen Elizabeth Stadium to grab the second men�s slot today.
At the Asian Olympic Games Qualification tournament�s Stage 2 men�s singles event, the Indian defeated Iran�s Noshad Alamiyan 4-3 (12-14, 11-6, 3-11, 7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-6). Mouma, meanwhile, despite losing her final round in the morning to North Korea�s Ri Myong Sun in straight games (3-11, 9-11, 10-12, 5-11), had her chance in the losers� final. And, as expected, the 32-year-old did not disappoint. Mouma defeated Rimma Gufranova of Uzbekistan 4-1 (11-13, 11-9, 13-11, 11-7, 12-10) to book one of the two Rio Games slots. For Mouma, it will be her second Olympics as she had first competed in the singles event at Athens in 2004 along with Sharath.
Earlier, Soumyajit Ghosh and Manika Batra had qualified for the Rio Games. A maximum of two players per National Olympic Committee are allowed to compete in both the singles event at the Games. For the first time, India will be represented by a full 4-member squad at Rio de Janeiro. � PTI
