13-year-old Hana Goda knocks Oshonaike out of ITTF African championship

Funke Oshonaike was sent packing from the 2021 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) African championship after she was surprisingly defeated by 13-year-old Hana Goda in the round of 16 of the women’s singles.

The teenage Egyptian brushed the 45-year-old Nigerian by winning four straight sets (11-3, 11-4, 11-6, 12-10) in a match that lasted less than an hour on Monday in Yaounde.

It was the end of Oshonaike’s hope for a fourth individual gong on the continent, but she took the defeat in good fate and praised Goda as “the next big thing in Africa.”

“I am so proud of her because I have not seen a player with such a unique spin. From the way she plays, you could see a lot of hunger in her and her passion for the sport,” the ITTF ‘club seven’ inductee added.

“For me, she is the next big thing in Africa. I think Nigeria should take a cue from what Egypt has done with Hana because she started early with good coaching. So, we must start early with our players and combine that with quality coaching.”

Following in the footsteps of Oshonaike, all Nigerian representatives were knocked out of the women’s singles event.

Edem Offiong made it the farthest before being eliminated by Mariam Ahodhaby after a close 4-3 defeat in the quarter-final.

Odusanya Abosede suffered a 4-0 loss to Dina Meshref in the round of 16, while Akpan Cecilia failed to get past Tunisia’s Garci Fadwa in the game that ended 4-3.

The duo of Bello Fatima and Ajayi Bukola also didn’t make it beyond the round of 32.

In the men’s singles, Aruna Quadri is the country’s sole contender to book a place in the semi-final after beating Egypt’s Shouman Mohamed 4-1 while highly rated Egyptians ousted Abiodun Bode and Olajide Omotayo.

Aruna will face Ahmed Saleh of Egypt in the first semi-final by 11 am on Tuesday with the hope to qualify for the final later in the evening.