Hana Goda, a 14-year-old Egyptian, emerged as the youngest winner of the ITTF Africa Cup after a three-day event including 48 players (28 men and 20 women) from Africa.
Goda, who was the number two seed in the women’s singles at the Africa Cup, which was held at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, was at her best from the group matches to the final, becoming the youngest at 14 years and five months to win the continental tournament at the expense of former champions.
Despite losing the first game, the world number cadet player won 4-3 (7-11, 11-2, 14-12, 5-11, 15-13, 14-16, 11-9) to go to her second senior continental championship final.
Goda, who narrowly lost to Mariam Alhodaby in the women’s singles final of the 2021 African Championships in Cameroon, had an easy time in the final, defeating surprise player of the tournament Nigeria’s Fatimo Bello 4-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-4, 11-6) to claim the title and a spot in the 2022 World Table Tennis (WTT) Cup Finals later this year.
