Egypt’s talented table-tennis prodigy Hana Goda has taken the game by storm.

This striking young athlete has turned heads by her performance as a fast-rising player. At just 12 years old, she has been grabbing the attention of the world and threatening the throne held by the sport’s top players.

Competing internationally in all age group youth and junior categories, she has seized the admiration of the world table-tennis family. Now, she has the attention of the International Table-Tennis Federation (ITTF) who have been keeping an eye on this young talent and have used their official website to introduce her to the sport’s officials and fans as the Egyptian who is setting unprecedented standards for her country and her continent.

In a recent article, Goda was presented as the player who is rewriting the history books as the first African player to appear in a global list, leading the under-15 girls’ world ranking list since January 2020 until present.

The 12-year-old Egyptian star Hana Goda spoke to the ITTF-Africa Press Officer Olalekan Okusan, who sees Goda as “a young lady with a mission, that is a quest to become the first African and first Egyptian to win a medal in the table-tennis events at an Olympic Games.”

Since attaining the world’s top spot for the world’s under-15 rankings, she has had an impressive successful national record winning the Egyptian National Championships women’s singles, beating Egypt’s second-ranked player, the 27-year-old national team player Farah Abdel Aziz, who is also ranked among the top five senior players in Africa. Winning the senior nationals title earned her a place on the women’s senior team as well at that age.

Internationally, she had more notable achievements at the Tunisia International in 2018 and the 2019 African Under 21 and Junior Championships in Ghana. Moreover, she secured a host of titles at the end of the year on the ITTF World Junior Circuit in Portugal. She was also part of the 2018 ITTF Hopes Team and won the 2019 ITTF World Hopes Week & Challenge Girls title.

Her medal haul launched back in 2017 when she was the runner up in the cadet girls’ singles event at the Swedish Junior and Cadet Open. Meanwhile, she has been selected as a member of the national squad for the forthcoming 2020 World Team Championships in Busan.

Goda opened up as she spoke to ITTF-Africa Press Officer Olalekan Okusan saying,“I’m very happy that I will be part of the Egyptian senior team to Korea. It wasn’t really a surprise as there was the Nationals competition and I came first. I feel very excited, and I’m looking forward for the challenge in Korea. I’m so honored to be in the team alongside Egypt’s top ranked Dina Meshref, and I will do my best to help team Egypt to do well.”

“It means a lot to me to be one of the youngest players at the World Team Table Tennis Championships,” she shared. “I believe this kind of experience will help achieve my dream of making it to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.”

“My target in 2020 is to keep being number one in cadet and to have better seeding in junior. I am also hoping that I can emerge as champion at the World Cadet Challenge this year,” she added.

Hana’s progress is supported through the Olympic Solidarity Program in cooperation with ITTF High Performance & Development. 

“I want to be an Olympian and be on top of the sport. Dina Meshref and Omar Assar have been my role models because they work hard and have confidence in themselves. They are also friendly people I love to emulate,” the young Hana Goda concludes.