Former African table tennis champion, Olufunke Oshonaike and Offiong Edem have qualified for the Tennis championship at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.
Oshonaike, making history, became the first African female athlete to compete in seven Olympic Games after she secured a place at the Olympic Games.
Oshonaike defeated Cameroun’s Sarah Hanffou 4-1 in the second match of the final group matches of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament holding in Tunis.
Earlier in the day, Oshonaike had defeated Algeria’s Lynda Loghraibi 4-1 while the win against the Camerounian finally confirmed her place in Japan.
Oshonaike had featured in six previous Olympic Games starting with Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
On her part, Offiong Edem became the first table tennis player to secure a place at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after a 4-3 win over Tunisia’s Fadwa Garci in the deciding match of the Qualifying Tournament holding in Tunis.
Despite taking a 2-0 lead against the Tunisian, Edem fell back to allow the tie to go into 3-3.
But spirited efforts from the Nigerian ensured her safety to record a 4-3 win to secure one of the four slots at stake in Tunis.
Edem becomes the first Nigerian table tennis player to secure a place in Tokyo to be later followed by Oshonaike.
