Funke Oshonaike is the First Woman Inducted into the ITTF “Club 7”
Nigerian table tennis player Funke Oshinaike has joined Segun Toriola and others in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Club Seven as the only players to have attended seven Olympic Games. On Monday, the 26th of July 2021, she received a plaque to officially mark her induction into the exclusive club, becoming the first woman to attain such a feat in the table tennis scene. This honour follows her seventh participation in the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The ITTF Club Seven is an elite list exclusive to table tennis players who have participated in the Olympic Games seven times.
Before now, only four table tennis players have attained such Olympian heights since the game became an Olympic sport at the Seoul ’88 Games. They include Jorgen Persson of Sweden (1988 to 2021), Zoran Primorac of Croatia and the former Yugoslavia (1988 to 2021), Jean-Michel Saive, Belgium (1988-2012) and former Nigerian champion, Segun Toriola, who made history as the first non-European table tennis player to compete at seven Olympics when he competed at the Rio 2016 Games.
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Segun Toriola made his Olympic debut at the Barcelona ’92 Games four years before Funke made her debut at the Atlanta ’96 Games in the women’s doubles, partnering with Bose Kaffo in a match against Russia. The 46-year old, whose journey at the games started since she was 21 is an 11-time African games medalist.
Receiving her plaque at a brief ceremony that saw the other Club Seven inductees, Funke hopes her new achievement brightens the hearts of Nigerians.
“I hope this award for me and my country, as the only girl in the seventh club in the world, and the only woman in Africa to have achieved the dream of representing her country at the Olympics seven times, will brighten the hearts of Nigerians.”
Congratulations Funke Oshonaike.