Veteran table tennis player, Funke Oshonaike, on Tuesday said she would accept an invitation to represent the country at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
She said, “I desire to participate in the next Olympics but it’s not totally within my power. I will do my best if invited; hence I will continue to train to get better.
“I am focusing on my club matches to improve and make myself worthy to be in the national team.”
Oshonaike represented Nigeria at the Atlanta ‘96 Olympic Games where she came third in the qualifying round.
At the London 2012 Olympic Games, the former national champion made it into Round One where she lost to Italy’s Wenling Tan Monfardini 4-0.
She was Team Nigeria’s assistant captain at the Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Apart from the Olympics, she has represented Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games, various world championships and remains the most successful female table tennis athlete at the Africa Games.
Oshonaike claimed the All Africa Games women’s singles title at Johannesburg ‘99 and Abuja 2003, while she was runner-up at Cairo ’91 and Maputo 2011.
The 2015 edition of the All Africa Games in Brazzaville, Congo, marked her seventh appearance and she made it memorable by clinching her sixth Olympic qualification, with a third place finish in the women’s singles event.
NAN
No comments: