Olympic journey of veteran Nigeria table tennis player, Funke Oshonaike has ended after losing 4-1 to Juan Liu from the United States at women’s singles preliminary round of table tennis on Saturday.
The match, which took place at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, saw the Chinese-American dominate the 46-year-old Nigerian.
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The 45-year-old, who have represented Nigeria in the seven Olympic Games, failed to proceed to the next stage after losing the first three-set.
Liu took the first three sets (11-7, 11-3, 11-4) before Oshonaike hinted a spark of resistance to win the fourth in a tie-break 13-11.
However, the resurgence was quenched by a fired-up Liu, who snatched the fourth set and, consequently, the match and the qualification into the first round.
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Oshonaike, who became the first African female athlete to compete in seven Olympic Games, had her dream of “defeating the undefeated” cut prematurely short.
Reacting to the loss, the 11-time African Games medallist said she is both happy and sad.
She spelt out the sadness of losing while also expressing the joy of making history in the same vein.
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Oshonaike expressed;
I’m feeling kind of sad and happy. I’m sad that I lost, but I’m happy to be here again at the Olympics to represent my country. But it’s rather unfortunate that I’ve to play a Chinese-American and the best in American in the qualification round.
But I have a lot of reasons to be grateful and happy. I’m happy that my dream has come true. As a seven-time Olympian, at my age, I’m still representing my country.
