Hana Goda and Omar Assar emerged the new champions of Africa at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, held in Tunis, Tunisia on Thursday.
While the younger Goda dethroned fellow Egyptian Dina Meshref 4-2 to clinch the Women’s Singles title, her compatriot, Assar, narrowly edged Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna in a 4-3 battle of the superstars of African table tennis in the Men’s Singles final matchup.
For three days, 50 players from Algeria, Benin Republic, Cameroon, Congo DR, Congo Brazzaville, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Egypt, Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, and Zambia competed in the tournament, which also served as qualifiers for the 2025 ITTF World Cup.
In the Women’s Singles, Goda started her day with a comeback win over Meshref. After falling behind 2-0, Goda rallied to win 4-2, reclaiming her title. Meshref initially dominated with scores of 11-9 and 11-5, but Goda regained her composure, winning the next four games 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, and 12-10.
A relieved Goda credited her mental coach for the comeback, stating, “I think the credit must go to my mental coach who advised me that even when I am down, I should never give up. This motivated me to come back in the game. I must also commend my opponent for putting up a good performance, and I am happy with the victory.”
In the Men’s Singles final, Assar had to dig deep to overcome defending champion Aruna in a close 4-3 match (11-3, 14-16, 11-4, 6-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6).
After the match, Assar described his win as the most challenging of his career, saying, “This is the toughest tournament, and I am so exhausted from all the matches I played in Tunis. I thank my teammates and our host, Tunisia, for being a good host.”
