Nigeria’s table tennis legend, Olufunke Oshonaike says the eighth Olympic Games outing may be a doubt but her time on the court is far from over.
Oshonaike was last year honoured at the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics, when she became the first African to compete at seven Olympics and the first female table tennis player to appear at seven Olympics.
The 46-year-old who started playing table tennis at 14 made her Olympics debut in Atlanta 1996. Since then, she has not missed any games as she went on to feature in the 2000 Sydney Games, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016 and most recently Tokyo.
The multiple African medal winner, Oshonaike was a spectator at the ongoing Africa Club Championships holding at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos state, Southern Nigeria. She is also training ahead of the Africa Cup also scheduled to hold at the same venue from May 26 to 28, 2022.
She said; “It has been wonderful, after the Olympics I’ve gone back home, continued with my club and enjoying myself. I had an accident like two months ago, thank God I’m alive. So the way I see life now, I see it differently, I take every day as it comes I’m happier than before because God gave me another chance. Apart from the accident, every other thing has been good.”
When asked what the next step is for her when she eventually retires from the sport, Oshonaike said; ”I will go back to school. I have to further my education, be happy every day because life is too short, take good care of my kid. I have learnt a lot with what happened to me so I’m grateful to God every day of my life.
“I love taking care of people, so I’m going for Nursing.”
Oshonaike has played table tennis for more than 30 years, since then no other female player has come close to her achievements but the Olympian is trying to remedy that in her own little way.
She said; ”the Funke Oshonaike foundation helps table tennis athletes who are not financially buoyant, so anytime I come into Nigeria I come with lots of equipment to help them. It’s not something I talk about. I like to do these things secretly and I’m still going to do some things at this competition (ongoing Africa Club competition). I bought a lot of things for the kids, they are all my kids and they all call me mama. It gives me more joy taking care of these kids than table tennis. I love it because I started like them.”
When asked if there have been improvements now compared to when her playing career began she said; “Nothing has improved. We used to have more competitions back then and we used to have more coaches back then. I became African champion at the age of 17, I started playing senior at the age of 15 but we can’t see any of them right now. What I see nowadays is something else, for me it has gone worse. But the only person I can actually appreciate out of everything that has been happening and who has really tried for table tennis is Barr. (Wahid) Enitan-Oshodi. He tried with the halls and table tennis competitions, he tried to bring back the past but he cannot do it alone. He still needs a lot of people to help out. Just like me, I have a lot of things to do with the kids but I cannot do it alone. I have my kids to take care of too and I’m a very proud single mother. So sometimes I need help too. I just hope that all these corporate bodies and wealthy Nigerians would look into sports; table tennis not just football but nowadays you see that football is also struggling like other sports.”
Oshonaike also had a take on the privatization of sports in Nigeria which she admits was “very important” but said the level of sports in Nigeria is a reflection of happenings in the country.
As expected, due to her exploits in table tennis, Oshonaike has been Nigeria’s poster girl for female players and according to her, that has been possible only because of her love for herself and God.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
