Hana Goda, Africa's youngest table tennis champion, strikes gold at ITTF-Africa Cup aged 14

What were you doing at 14 years 7 months old?

Becoming the youngest champion in your sport in your continent?

Hana Goda did just that on Saturday (28 May) when she clinched gold at the ITTF-Africa Cup, the second-most-important continental event in table tennis behind only the African Senior Championships.

The Egyptian second seed was dominant throughout the entire tournament, winning both her group stage matches in straight games before defeating Nigerian legend Olufunke Oshonaike 4-0 in the quarter-finals.

She also saw off compatriot Dina Meshref, the six-time African senior champion, in a tight 4-3 win before thrashing surprise finalist Fatimo Bello 4-0 in straight games to secure the title.

The victory marks Goda out as a clear favourite, alongside Meshref, to win the African Senior Championships set for Algiers later this year. It also puts her in line for an invitation to the WTT Cup Finals at the end of the season to represent Africa.

Hana Goda: Giant-slayer

It's not the first time Goda has seen off both Oshonaike and Meshref, two of the most recognisable names in African women's table tennis, in a single tournament.

At last year's African Senior Championships, the top continental event, Goda defeated both players en route to winning silver as she lost in the final.

But those giant-slayings would turn out to be just the first.

Now, the 14-year-old has repeated the feat, and gone one better to take gold.

Goda did not compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021, despite being in the Japanese capital, as Egypt opted to use her as the fourth reserve player in their three-woman team that was eliminated in the first round.

Speaking to Olympics.com back in 2020, she said: "I dream about the Olympics every day. I hope I can get the first Olympic medal [for Egypt] in table tennis. I really want the gold medal and not [just] any medal.

"In the World Championships, I want to play in the finals and also get the gold medal."

In that same interview, she recalled that when she first began playing the sport, she was even shorter than the height of the table.

"People were like, 'What is she doing? How can she play when she is the same height as the table?' But for me I was happy because everyone was watching."

The Egyptian, who's the age-group world number one at under-15 and under-17 level and the world number three among under-19s, has been playing for ten years, first picking up the sport aged four.

Now, she has the world in her sights after topping the African field.