"I Used Soak-Away As My First Table Tennis Training Board" - Oshonaike

"I Used Soak-Away As My First Table Tennis Training Board" - Oshonaike

By Niyi Busari

Nigerian table tennis star, Olufunke Oshonaike said that she started playing table tennis on a soak-away as the training board when growing up in Lagos in the 80's, BSNSports.com.ng can report.

Oshonaike added that back then, the table tennis boards were scarce, so, his brother came up with idea of building a small living room table to enhance her training skills.

Speaking on Saturday Breakfast Sports Show on BCOS Ibadan with Boluwaji Ogunmola, she said: "I remembered back then when i was living with my parent in a face-me-i-face-you house in Lagos, and used the soak-away as my first table tennis training board. I played on it with my brothers and later built a small living room table and started playing on it too."

Oshonaike further stated how she started her playing career on a street called Akeju Street in Shomolu, Lagos , in the early 1980s while very young.

"There was a tennis board at Shomolu in Lagos then. So, i started my game from there but people were surprised to see a girl of 10 to 11 year-old playing table tennis. Many people gathered to watch me playing whenever i was playing then. So, that was how i started my career in table tennis."

Funke was a spectacle each time she played because she was very small and used to amaze people with her skill at that early age.
She attended Community Primary School now known as Ola-Olu Primary School, Agunbiade, Shomolu, Lagos.

While in primary 4, she won a competition for the school and was honoured by the Headmaster of the school, Mr G.O. Taiwo, on the assembly ground in front of her school mates.

After her primary education, she proceeded to
Igbobi Girls High School , Igbobi-Yaba, where she finished her secondary school education before gaining admission into University of Lagos. She left Nigeria after afterward to proceed with her education and professional career.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro , she competed in the women's single division. In the preliminary round, she defeated Mariana Sahakian of Lebanon . In round 1, she was defeated by Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico . She was the flagbearer for Nigeria during the Parade of Nations .

Funke Oshonaike becomes the first African Woman in any sport to qualify for seven Olympic Games.

1996 - Atlanta 🇺🇸
2000 - Sydney 🇦🇺
2004 - Athens 🇬🇷
2008 - Beijing 🇨🇳
2012 - London 🇬🇧
2016 - Rio 🇧🇷
2020 - Tokyo 🇯🇵