2019 ITTF World Championship: Oshonaike Eyes Final Appearance In Hungary

Funke Oshonaike

HAMBURG - Since making her debut as a teenager at the ITTF World Championship in Chiba, Japan, Olufunke Oshonaike may be making her last appearance at the global showpiece when the 2019 ITTF World Championship.

The five-time Olympian told NationSport from her base in Hamburg, Germany yesterday that she would not give up on featuring in her seventh Olympic Games but said: “I think this might be last world championship in the singles because my aim is to play at the next Olympic Games where I will then call it quit. But I must admit it would not be easy leaving a sport that you have played for more than for decades. Table tennis has impacted my life positively and everything I had achieved in life majority of them has been through the sport,” he said.

“My first outing was in Chiba, Japan in 1991 when I played alongside great African players like Atanda Musa. I was so small and I would forget every moment in Japan that year being a teenager then. But my cherished moment was at the 2015 edition in China where I played against the eventual champion- Ning Ding in the first round. That day was my birthday and I enjoyed playing against the best player in the moment. This was a rare experience that not every player will have but I played against Ning Ding which is one of the excitements of playing at the World Championship,” the former African champion said.

Oshonaike who is regarded as the most successful female table tennis player in Africa said she hopes to advance to the main draw in Hungary as this would decide her outing in the competition. 

“I want to first of all qualify from the group and see what next I can do in the competition,” she added.

Oshonaiek described the world championship as a unique competition that gives players the ample chance to play against some of the world’s best. 

“World Championship is a unique competition because it allows players to play against one another in same competition unlike the Olympic Games and World Cup where only the best compete. So every moment in the competition is cherished and that is why its the dream of every player to compete at the world championship,” Oshonaike said.