Hana Goda, Africa’s youngest table tennis champion and the 14-year-old Egyptian, is taking it step by step and she’s just a worthy champion. She quoted in the Olympics that she wants to take her winning step by step to make it more worthy. She spoke with Olympics.com reflecting on her historic and “important” win and why she feels that her best is yet to come.
Hana Goda, the ITTF-Africa Cup Champion, is waiting for her career to take off. She had a shocking start in 2019 when she beat then African number two Farah Abdel-Aziz and became Egypt’s youngest national champion.
One year later, she rose to the top of the under-15 women’s world rankings. She became the first African and Arab player to take the number one spot.
Her focus is on mastering the game and she has no plans to be promoted quickly. The wonderkid still has plenty of time in her career, occasionally taking home a senior title.
ITTF- Africa Cup
The ITTF-Africa Cup in Lagos is at the top of Ksenia Goda’s list. She doesn’t want to just go to Nigeria and play. She wants to do one of her childhood dreams which is being an African champion.
Her opponent, Mariam Alhodaby, is a compatriot. Goda was 14-years-old after she lost the match to Mariam. However, Goda was relieved as she felt she had accomplished her goal and was ready to conquer the continent.
The African Cup was so important to me. It has been one of my goals since the beginning of this year and I always have a paper where I write my goals. They were what made me strong, just like this goal.
The world’s best under-15 girl’s table tennis player has had success winning two World Table Tennis Youth Star Contender events and being runner up in two others.
The recent Africa Cup seemed like a perfect opportunity for Goda to show her potential. Whenever she took a table tennis stance, Goda was fast and confident, while still lacking in experience.
In the continental event, she was undefeated. In the semifinals, she knocked out her mentor and compatriot. It was her second time beating her idol in two years.
“Dina and I played in the semifinals, like whoever won the match would win the tournament because we had both already beaten this Nigerian couple before. The final turned out to be easy – I beat her in straight games.”
She explained that winning her match made a huge difference in her life. She even told the crowd “to pray for me.” When she won, it made her a 33rd-ranked tennis player, instead of 42nd-ranked.
Taking it step by step
In the past year, Egyptian star, Karim Abdel Moumny has been gaining popularity. But, despite her success in the world rankings as a top-ranked African player, she does not want to get too excited about making it big. Moumny have exhibited some impressive and unexpected maturity.
There is no need to pressurize yourself when it comes to competitive table tennis. Hana Goda thinks that intensive studies are unnecessary and should not be done. Instead, just keep your head switched on and good things will happen.
Morgan got started in the squash game in kindergarten when she realized that the court was too high. Her coaches shortened it to make it easier. And now at age seven, she is playing better than people a lot older than her.
Egypt’s women triumph
In an immoderate climate, where the extremes of heat and cold reign, many Egyptians have struggled to seize their basic rights. But some women are seizing opportunities to do their best in a traditionally male-dominated society through sports.
Goda recently helped Egypt’s women’s team success in the 2022 Mediterranean Games. She now has plans to compete in the October Africa Senior Championships. If she continues to have success, this could be a defining moment for her career.