July 24, (THEWILL) – The 2020 Olympics were quickly over for veteran Olympian table tennis medal hopeful Funke Oshonaike who was knocked out of the Tokyo Games in the preliminary rounds of the ping pong events.
Drawn against Juan Liu, who was born in and previously competed for China before switching to represent the United States of America, the 45-year-old Oshonaike lost 1-4 in the very first game of the event.
In what was Oshonaike’s seventh Olympic Games, she could not rise to the challenge of Liu and quickly lost the first three sets to the American. The first set went to Liu 11-7, the second 11-3 and the third 11-4. It appeared the American was set for an all-round victory.
However, Oshonaike’s rallied to win a tight fourth set 13-11 out of sheer herculean effort and resilience. But, what looked like a comeback quickly returned to status quo as Liu returned to win the fifth set 4-11 to send the Nigerian crashing out of contention.
Fortunately for Team Nigeria, there was comforting news from the female singles table tennis event as Offiong Edem was in imperial form in her own match. She triumphed over her Hungarian opponent Dora Madarasz in the preliminary round fixture, posting an impressive 4-1 victory.
In a similar result from Oshonaike’s loss but reversed in Nigeria’s favour, Edem won all first three sets. She took the first set 11-8, the second 11-9 and the third 11-9 to command a sensational 3-0 lead before the Hungarian marshalled a fightback.
Madarasz took the fourth set with an 11-9 result but Edem proved too good for her and quickly eliminated all hopes of any Hungarian comeback hopes with a summary 11-4 fifth set win to advance beyond the preliminary rounds.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
