At a glance, Egypt's Hana Goda (pictured) might not seem to be much of an assed to Team Egypt at the 2021 ITTF African Championships, currently underway in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Compared to women's team captain Dina Meshref (world #38) and teammate Mariam Alhodaby (world #353), Goda ranks a distant #1,060 in the global honor roll. While numbers may be too slippery to ever get caught in an outright lie, they can certainly be presented misleadingly. First of all, cut the poor girl some slack—Goda is only 13 years old. Despite her limited experience, Goda's résumé more than justifies her inclusion on the team. Goda is ranked #1 in the world for girls under 15. Furthermore, she is also the youngest ever Egyptian women's singles champion, toppingthen-27-year-old Farah Abdel Aziz (world #158) 3-0 in the 2019 national final. Thus, Goda is no mere mascot for Team Egypt. She has more than earned her starting spot. In the women's team final against Nigeria, Egypt's only real continental rival, Goda faced 34-year-old Offiong Edem, Nigeria's top-ranked woman at world #119. The preternaturally poised Goda started strong, wobbled and then righted the ship for a convincing (11-8, 13-15, 11-5, 11-6) win. "I never knew I would be playing in the final until the morning when Dina Meshref told me I would be playing and that I would play the first game against Edem," related the elated Goda afterward. "Usually when I lose a game, it is always difficult for me to get back into the match. However, on getting back to the third game, I started gaining my confidence back, which really helped me to win the match." Inspired by their junior teammate's heroic efforts, Dina Meshref and Mariam Alhodaby each contributed a win, sweeping their Nigerian rivals for the team title. "I cannot say our win over Nigeria was easy because of the 3-0 victory," said Meshref. "Every match was tough, and the scores were close. I am happy and proud of Hana Goda with her performance; she showed her quality against the best." The Egyptian men, for their part, had a tougher go at it but still got the job done. Also facing Nigeria, Egypt had no answer for Quadri Aruna, the standard-bearer for Africa at world #19. Still, Aruna's two wins were not enough as Egypt's Omar Assar, Ahmed Ali Saleh and Mohamed El-Beiali each contributed a third of the magic number. With team matters now in the record books, attention now turns to singles and doubles contests. Hana Goda is alive and well in women's singles, next facing Nigerian legend Olufunke Oshonaike in the round of 16. Oshonaike, 45, has competed in a record seven Olympics. Goda, on the opposite end of her career trajectory, has her sights set on making her Olympic debut in Paris 2024 at the age of 16. With such a promising start to her career, there is no reason Hana Goda could not be the first table tennis player to compete in eight Olympics. After all, while numbers may deceive, results like hers are inarguable.

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