45-year-old Funke Oshonaike sets African record, qualifies for seventh Olympics

Nigeria’s veteran women’s table tennis player,  Funke Oshonaike, has set a new African record by becoming the first African woman to qualify for a 7th Olympic event and has revealed she will retire from the game after participating in the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.

Oshonaike, 45, defeated Cameroon’s Sarah Hannfou 4-1 (12-10, 11-4, 4-11, 11-7, 11-6) in the deciding match of the ITTF-Africa Top 16 Cup in Tunisia to make it to the table tennis event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Oshonaike who made her Olympics debut in 1996 said; 
“I enjoyed every day I spent at the Games Village , it was an experience I will always cherish because it shows how the world should look like, everybody is the same,” Oshonaike, was quoted on ITTF-Africa’s Twitter handle.

“We share things and we unite in the Village. I look at that experience at what the world should look like. I am hoping that the power of sport will help to heal the wounds of the world.

“For me I will be quitting but I want to use this my last experience to inspire and motivate young girls that you can achieve whatever you desire in life. You are the only one that can limit yourself in life,” Oshonaike said.