Hana Goda leading Egypt and African table tennis into the new generation: "I'm honoured to carry my country and my continent"

Africa has produced its fair share of table tennis legends over the years. The likes of Segun Toriola, Olufunke Oshonaike, and Quadri Aruna have come from Nigeria, while fellow continental powerhouse Egypt can count Omar Assar and Dina Meshref.

And then there's Hana Goda, Assar and Meshref's teammate. Still only 18 now, in 2022 she became the youngest athlete to win the ITTF-Africa Cup, the second-most-important individual title in Africa, behind the African Championships. Alongside Meshref, she's leading the charge now for Egypt's women at the 2026 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London.

At world number 20 in women's singles, she is the African number one and the face of the new generation of African table tennis players.

"It's very important to represent Egypt and represent Africa," she tells Olympics.com in the English capital. "Sometimes I feel a bit of pressure because I want to put Africa, Egypt, and the Arab world in a high spot.

"I always want people to look at me and not think it's just Hana. I'm representing all of these important things to me. This is what I like to do, it's good pressure. I'm honoured to be able to carry my country and my continent and our people."

Dakar 2026 the next step for Africa – although Goda won't be there

Goda's expression turns enthusiastic when asked about the forthcoming 2026 Summer Youth Olympic Games being held in six months time in Dakar, Senegal — the first Olympic event to be held on the African continent.

However, Goda herself won't be competing at Dakar 2026 as she ages out of the required age group this year, missing eligibility by just a month. Athletes at Dakar 2026 have to be born in 2008 or later.

"Yeah, it's crazy. I missed it by just one month because I'm 2007, December, I wish that I was a little bit later so I could play it. It would've been amazing.

"It's really, really good for us that Africa is starting to enter in the biggest stages and host the Youth Olympics for the first time, it's still one of the biggest events of the year.

"It's definitely something that I'm proud of and I hope it goes really well so that we're able to have more and bigger events."

The Mohamed Salah connection with Hana Goda and next steps for Egypt

In 2019, the then-11-year-old Goda challenged Liverpool football star Mohamed Salah to a table tennis match after her impressive exploits at club level. She received a response, causing the exchange to go viral.

However, Goda says it has yet to take place. "It was actually one of the first things that put me in the spotlight," she remembers. "It was crazy that it was not related to my table tennis, but Mo Salah is the greatest athlete we have (as Egyptians). I'm such a big fan, I was joking on TV that 'I want to play against you' and he was like 'Let's do it'.

"It never happened, actually, because I never came here (England), but it was a very nice interaction for me."

The intervening years have seen Goda's profile grow, helped by that Africa Cup win in 2022. But there's still space for the sport to improve in Egypt and for Egyptian table tennis to make more of a mark in Africa and internationally.

"We're always trying to hard to find practice partners and it's not the easiest, but the Egyptian national team and the federation always try their best to help and we're moving in the right direction," Goda says.

"It's getting better and we're working harder to find solutions for the next generation so we have Egypt in a high place in the future."

Watch the video below for a profile on Goda from 2022 after her Africa Cup win.

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