Rio Olympics 2016: Mouma Das, Manika Batra lose as Indian women's challenge in table tennis ends

Rio de Janeiro: Mouma Das’ Olympic appearance was short-lived as the Indian veteran lost to higher-ranked Romanian, Daniela Dodean Monteiro, in the first round of the women’s singles table tennis competition in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_2857040” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Mouma Das. Reuters[/caption] World No.150 Das failed to put up much of a fight against her 58th-ranked opponent losing 2-11, 7-11, 7-11, 3-11. Das had qualified for her second Olympics after making the debut in Athens 12 years ago. Later on Saturday, Olympic debutant Manika Batra went down fighting to Katarzyna Franc-Grzybowska losing 12-10 6-11 12-14 11-8 4-11 12-14. Manika will be disappointed to have let her opponent off the hook for more than one occasion in the match. In the men’s singles, Sharath Kamal and Soumyajit Ghosh will play their first round matches later in the day. It is the first time that four Indian paddlers qualified for the Summer Games.