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Tag: Olufunke Oshonaike

“I was afraid of making it to sixth Olympic Games”

On records Olufunke Oshonaike is the most successful female table tennis player at the African Games having won more medals than any other player in the continent. Back-to-back she has won the singles title and for four consecutive editions of the Africa’s Olympics, Oshonaike has claimed the doubles title.

The 40-year-old mother of two is yet to come to terms that she will taking part in her sixth Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil having debuted at the biggest sporting gathering at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics in United States. Despite her inability to win medals at the Olympic Games, Oshonaike says that any athlete that makes it to the Olympics should be appreciated as it remains the biggest stage for the best of the best in the world.

Oshonaike is edging toward history in Africa as the first female table tennis player to be competing at her sixth Olympic Games and it is a journey the former African champion says she never envisaged when she made her Olympics debut in 1996.

“When I attended my first Olympic Games in 1996, I never thought I will be able to make it six appearances because then I just wanted to take part in three Olympics. But here I am today looking forward to my sixth Olympics. For me, this is an awesome experience I would cherish in my life. The Olympic Games is a special event and not many people make it there and for me to be going there for the sixth consecutive times is a feat I never dreamed of but by God’s grace I am here today looking forward to another outing at the biggest sporting stage,” she said.

“My first appearance at the Olympic Games was an experience I would admire forever because I met the best in the world and I rubbed shoulders with them and this for me is an experience every athlete would desire. It is only the best that attends Olympic Games and every athlete that competes at the Olympic Games qualified based on their performance. Most of the participants were not given easy tickets to be at the games.”

Despite her participation in several international tournaments across the globe, Oshonaike still believes that the Olympic Games remains the ‘icing on the cake’ for athletes.

“It is the dream of every athlete to make it to the Olympics because it is the best among the best that attend Olympic Games and I have been privilege to be among these best. This for me is a feat I will cherish more than any medals I might have won at the African Games or championships.

“You cannot compare the experience with any other events because you meet with other top athletes across the globe while the atmosphere is most times unique and this is what endeared the heart of many globally. Olympic is not all about medal even some athletes who must have won medals in several international competitions do not make it to the Olympics as only few make it there,” the athlete said.

With few weeks to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Oshonaike admits that with the new format, the dominance of China may be halted in Brazil. “For us representing our country very well in Rio is our priority and we must strive to be good ambassadors in terms of our conduct on and off the arena. We want to go to Rio and exhibit the virtues synonymous with Nigeria. We are not going to be promising any medal but anything can happen but we will surely give our best. For me, this might be my last Olympic Games and I want to cherish every moment I am going to spend in Brazil and I hope I can achieve something.”

On the dearth of quality female players, Oshonaike is pained by this development but blamed it on indiscipline and interest on the part of the athletes. “When we started playing, discipline was made very important and we were also passionate about the sport. Money was not our priority as we also have training schedule that we follow.

“But unfortunately, things are quite different these days as athletes are not as disciplined, and the passion for the sport has not been there. I am so sad that our players are not showing enough interest in the sport but I hope and believe with the efforts being made by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), we can have more players coming through.”

May 21, 2016
ITTF Nigeria open: Battle for the top prize begins in main draw

The boys have now been separated from the men as the main draw of the men and women singles of the ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open begins on Friday at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.

After two days of matches in the preliminary, the players that will join the seeded players for battle in the main draw have emerged, while attention will now be on the race for the titles.

Garnova Tartiana in action

Women singles defending champion, Portugal’s Jieni Shao as well as home favourites – Edem Offiong and Olufunke Oshonaike will be aiming for the diadem while veteran Segun Toriola will slug it out against stars from Egypt, Portugal, Romania, Finland and Russia.

The round of 32 (main draw) of the men will commence today while the women will slug it out in the round of 16 (main draw) for places in the next stage.

Apart from the prize money, the players will be targeting world ranking points in anticipation for places in the end-of-year ITTF World Tour Finals holding in Doha, Qatar.

Portugal’s Joao Seduvem told NationSport on Thursday that he was not surprised with the quality of Nigerian players

Ajala Funmilola in action

having played alongside 2014 ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri in the prestigious Portuguese League.

“I must commend the organisers of the tournament with the way things have been going so far because everything was in place and we cannot ask for more. I am impressed but not surprised with the quality of Nigerian players because they are very talented and they feel the ball whenever they are playing. They are passionate and the fans made the hall lively with their applauds for every point,” the Portuguese star said.

May 19, 2016
ITTF Africa: Toriola, Edem inch closer to Olympics’ dream

Segun Toriola’s dream of making it to the seventh Olympic Games in Brazil is getting closer after the former African champion dominated Group One in the preliminary stage of the ITTF Africa Olympics Qualification Tournament holding in Khartoum, Sudan.

Also, Edem Offiong who finished fourth at the ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup is getter a ray of hope of playing in her third Olympics after coming top in Group One of the women’s preliminaries.

Paris-based Cameroun’s Sarah Hanffou also had an easy ride to the second round while the omly upset in the first stage was caused by unseeded Tunisia’s Safa Saidani who defeated number 10 seed, Algeria’s Isem Laid 3-1 to put her Olympics dream on the right track.

The 24 year-old Tunisian told NationSport after the match that, “My dream is to become African champion because I train very hard in Tunis but I did not have quality players to train with. Most of the female players in Tunisia are juniors and I must be playing with top players to be able to get stronger in the game.

I noticed that Nigerian players have always being my waterloo in major tournaments in Africa. Specifically, Olufunke Oshonaike has been my undoing in tournaments but I know that as I continue to work hard, my dream of ruling the continent will be getting closer,” Safa Saidani said.

She described the victory over Algeria’s Islem Laid as a morale booster of her dream of picking one of the two slots for the Rio 2016 Olympics. “This is the first time I would be playing against Islem and I am happy that I was able to defeat her because she is a good player.

“I most times find it difficult to play against any playing using pimples but today my service and my forehand were my saving grace against her. I will continue to work hard and I know that being my appearance at the Olympics qualifiers, I still have more years ahead of me to feature in future events and hopefully I will fulfil my dream.”

On Wednesday, the tournament continues with the knockout stage while the finalists in the men and women events will automatically qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

February 16, 2016
ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup: Why I couldn’t make it to Sudan – Oshonaike

After absenting herself from the 2016 ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup in Sudan, six-time Olympian, Olufunke Oshonaike has blamed it on paucity of fund.

The trio of Aruna Quadri, Segun Toriola and Edem Offiong had to sponsor themselves to the tournament after the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) failed the secure the needed fund for the trip from the National Sports Commission (NSC).

However, the Germany-based star told NationSport from her base in Hamburg that she would have loved to be at the tournament but she could not raise the fund to prosecute the trip. She lamented that it is disheartening that athletes had to be using their hard-earned money to represent their fatherland.

“I don’t think this is too good for the country that in the year of the Olympics and we had a competition that would have helped us prepare well and unfortunately we could not get fund from NSC. At several times, we had to sponsor ourselves to competition and I think this is not too good for us because we also have responsibilities to our family,” she lamented.

For the players competing at the Rio Olympics, Oshonaike tasked NSC to support all athletes to fulfil their dream of making the country proud. “Being the Olympics year, I want to use this medium to task the NSC to please support every athlete going to the Olympics in Brazil because this is the biggest stage for all of us,” she added.

Meanwhile, Nigerian players failed to make it to the final in the women event after Edem Offiong was defeated 4-1 in the semifinal by Egypt’s Dina Meshref.

February 15, 2016
ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup: Quadri, Assar rivalry moves to Sudan

In continuation of their 2015 fierce rivalry, two of Africa’s best table tennis players, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Egypt’s Omar Assar will next month in Khartoum, Sudan re-enact their competition at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Top 16 Cup.

  Despite being seeded ahead of Quadri in the December continental ranking released by the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Assar is aware of the task ahead of him having being humiliated in the French league by the 2014 ITTF Star Player last December.

  Quadri, who has fended off the pressure on him which affected most of his performance against the Egyptian in three major finals in 2015, is the right frame of mind to wrestle the dominance from the Egyptian.

  For the Sudan tournament, ATTF has confirmed Quadri and six-time Olympian, Segun Toriola as well as Olufunke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong as Nigeria’s flag-bearers.

  In the list of qualified released by ATTF, Quadri who won the tournament in 2014 in Lagos will battle for the title against his rival, Assar who has remained a threat to the Nigerian dominating the continent.

  The tournament is scheduled to hold on February 14 to 15 has the top 15 players in the continent including a player from the host country to complete the top 16.

  Toriola will join Quadri to compete for the laurel in the men’s event while Oshonaike who has already secured a place at this year’s Rio Olympic Games in Brazil will be joined in the women event by Edem Offiong who is at present plying her trade in the Portuguese elite league.

  Having claimed three titles in 2015, the Egyptian duo of Omar Assar and Dina Meshref top the list of invitees for the two-day tournament to be staged at the International Conference Centre in Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan.

  Winners in the men and women events will represent the continent at the 2016 World Cups.

  The list of participants is:

Men:  Omar Assar (Egypt), Quadri Aruna (Nigeria), El-Sayed Lashin (Egypt), Saheed Idowu (Congo Brazzaville), Segun Toriola (Nigeria), Idir Khourta (Algeria), Suraju Saka (Congo Brazzaville), Olouwachehoun Guiganfode (Benin), Mawussi Agbetoglo (Togo), Sofiène Boudjadja (Algeria), Adem Hamam (Tunisia), Fessou Lawson-Gaizer (Togo), Alain Patrick Jague Niken Jiotsa (Cameroon), Derek Abrefa (Ghana), Emmanuel Ngwe Nikeng (Cameroon)

Women: Dina Meshref (Egypt), Nadeen El-Dawlatly (Egypt), Han Xing (Congo Brazzaville), Olufunke Oshonaike (Nigeria), Offiong Edem (Nigeria), Sara Hanffou (Cameroon), Islem Laid (Algeria), Lynda Loghraibi (Algeria), Zodwa Maphanga (South Africa), Amma Liobaka (Democratic Republic of Congo), Onyinyechi Nwachukwu (Congo Brazzaville), Cynthia Kwabi (Ghana), Harriet Ntumnyuy (Cameroon), Celia baah-Danso (Ghana), Isabel Albino (Angola).

January 12, 2016
AAG: Nigeria qualifies for semifinal in table tennis

Nigeria’s women team continues their good run in table tennis at the 11th African Games after beating Ethiopia 3-0 in the quarterfinal early morning of Saturday September 12

The trio of Olufunke Oshonaike, Edem Offiong and Cecilia Otu-Akpan bashed the Ethiopian ladies to secure a place in the last four where are expected to battle host Congo Brazzaville.

The Congolese team with their acquired Chinese players will be hoping to turn the table against the west African giant in the semifinal match holding later this evening (Saturday September 12) at the Revolution Hall in Brazzaville.

The Nigerian team is full of confidence going into the match having maintained 100 percent record in all their matches in the competition.

September 12, 2015
2015 African Games: Nigeria is the team to beat – Oshonaike

Since 1973 that table tennis became a medal hauling event at the African Games, Nigeria’s Olufunke Oshonaike remains the only female player to have won the singles event back-to-back in 1999 and 2003 and after being named in the nine-man team to 2015 Games in Congo Brazzaville, the Germany-based star believes Nigeria will be a team to beat at the tournament.

Aside winning the women’s singles twice, Oshonaike has made it to the final twice in 1991 and 2011 and she admitted that she might win the title in Brazzaville but she would make it to the podium.

“My target in Brazzaville is to win medal because I might not be able to win the title. Even with this, anything can happen because we are all in good shape for the games,” she said.

Having tasted defeats in the hands of Egyptians at the 2015 ITTF Africa Senior Cup in Cameroon, Oshonaike told NationSport that with the atmosphere in the Nigerian camp in Lagos, it would be hard for any team to stop Nigeria mopping medals in Brazzaville.

“I want to say that with the way my teammates have been training and with the form they are right now, they will be unbeatable for any team in Brazzaville. We are all in good shape because we have trained well and the girls are all in fine form so I think they are ready to tackle any team. I have seen the Egyptians and I can conclude that we are going to beat any team in the tournament,” she added.

On the engagement of the German tactician, Martin Adomeit, Oshonaike said: “It is a wonderful thing that we are having a coach of this quality and I think it is an awesome thing to have a coach of such caliber tutoring us at the games. His presence in the team alone is motivating and for us we just need to be focused because since the arrival of the coach, we have seen a lot of changes in our games. The good feeling in camp coupled with the presence of the German coach has really added vigour to the team.”

August 25, 2015
ITTF: Africa unites in China

There is no doubt that in Suzhou; Africans are united through table tennis considering the partnership involving Olufunke Oshonaike of Nigeria and Sarah Hanffou of Cameroun in the women’s doubles of the ITTF World Championships in China.

Although, the union was not consummated during the registration for the tournament but the absence of some Nigerian players may have prompted Olufunke Oshonaike to consider Sarah Hanffou.

Playing from the main draw of the women’s doubles, the duo overcame African doubles’ champion, Egypt’s Dina Meshref and Nadeen El-Dawlatly 4-1 to book their place in the second round of the event.

But watching the Nigerian and the Camerounian played on Tuesday, one would not be convinced that they are playing together for the first time as the Chemistry between the two worked very well.

They seem to have quickly understood each other while their combination confused the young Egyptians. From the start of the match, they dominated giving the continental counterparts a run for their money.

After the sweet victory, Hanffou admitted that it was exciting partnering one of Africa’s most experienced players as she hopes to learn from her.

“I think combining with Funke Oshonaike was awesome because she is one of the most experienced players in Africa. I never knew we would understand ourselves like this and it was also a great opportunity to play with the current African champion. I think this should be encouraged in Africa for players from different countries to partner. I am going to really learn from her because despite her age, she is still playing well,” she said.

The Paris-based legal practitioner added: “Playing against the Egyptians really afforded us the opportunity to test their strength in readiness for the All Africa Games. For me it was fun and I enjoyed every bit of the match and I hope we can continue to progress.”

For Oshonaike, it was a great experience playing with such a good player who has shown a lot of promises in the sport. “I think Haffou’s comportment and understanding on table is really motivating to me and this has really brought out my best. We talked to each other on table and we also understand ourselves and this is what we need as partners in the doubles event. I am having fun and I am so excited that we were able to defeat African champion,” Oshonaike added.

April 28, 2015