In a history making moment at the ITTF World Cup Macao and one of the most memorable results in women\u2019s singles came from Egypt\u2019s Hana Goda in the Last 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 18-year-old produced a performance of extraordinary resilience and nerve to defeat France\u2019s Jia Nan Yuan 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 14-16, 8-11, 11-8, 13-11 in a match that had the crowd on its feet from start to finish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One game alone stretched to 30 points, and the match consumed an hour and twelve minutes of extraordinary table tennis before a winner was finally decided. It came down to the last possible moment. Trailing 7-10 in the seventh game, Goda stared down four match points and saved every single one of them, eventually closing out the decider 13-11 in a finish that left the crowd stunned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With that win, Goda became the first African woman ever to reach the quarterfinals of the women\u2019s singles World Cup and only the second African player ever to reach the last eight at the World Cup, following Nigeria\u2019s Quadri Aruna\u2019s historic quarterfinal appearance in the men’s singles in D\u00fcsseldorf in 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a landmark moment for African table tennis, and a result that will inspire a generation of players across the continent for years to come. Goda\u2019s reward for that extraordinary effort is a quarterfinal date with top seed and two-time defending champion Sun Yingsha, the world\u2019s number one women\u2019s player and the most dominant force in the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the ultimate test, but if this week has shown anything, it is that Goda is not afraid of a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even know how I\u2019m feeling, it\u2019s crazy, emotional, and I just can\u2019t believe it. Reaching the quarterfinals of the World Cup was my goal, but to actually\u00a0achieve\u00a0it feels incredible. I set big goals for myself and\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0so happy I was able to reach this one.\u00a0One of my favourite things about winning is carrying the name of Egypt and the name of Africa with me.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0not a weight or a burden, I really love being able to put my country and my continent in such a good place on the world stage.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0so overwhelmed I can barely find the words right now,” said Goda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“When I was down three match points at 10-7 in the final set, I just thought, \u2018If it is written for me, I\u2019m going to win.\u2019 Jia Nan Yuan has beaten me the last two times we played, so I knew I needed to just stay in it.\u00a0At one point, I felt really sad because I thought I was going to lose and miss out on the quarterfinals.\u00a0I told myself that if I was going to lose, I should at least let it go knowing I did my best. I just kept playing, and I\u2019m so grateful it went my way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Japan\u2019s Honoka Hashimoto also secured her place in the quarterfinals, winning her first ever Round of 16 match against Brazil\u2019s Bruna Takahashi on her World Cup debut. In their first ever international encounter, Hashimoto came through on top\u00a0 with dominance and will now face second seed Wang Manyu, a player she has never defeated in the quarter-finals. It is a daunting prospect, but Hashimoto has shown that she is capable of rising to the occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is my first appearance at the World Cup, and I am very happy and delighted to have come through the group stage and now secure my first win in the main draw.\u00a0In the next round, I will be playing\u00a0Wang Manyu I have played her several times before and I have never managed to get a win against her. She is a player who always fights tenaciously, no matter how challenging the match is\u2014she is strong both physically and mentally. I hope to play with a mentality that is just as strong, if not stronger, to be well-prepared for tomorrow,\u201d said Hashimoto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the men\u2019s singles, top seed Wang Chuqin was given a stern examination by France\u2019s Felix Lebrun before finding the game that separates him from the rest. The match swung back and forth through the opening games, with Lebrun pushing the world number one all the way but in the fourth game Wang shifted up a level, taking control and did not look back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He closed out the match 11-13, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 15-13, with the final game going all the way in a finish that had the full house at the Galaxy Arena roaring. Chuqin remains the only Chinese player left standing in the men\u2019s draw, and he will face Slovenia\u2019s Darko Jorgic in the quarterfinals tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was really a tough match. I already expected that, as Felix is one of the top players. I knew it wouldn\u2019t be easy for either of us to meet in the first round of the main draw. He made a lot of changes throughout the match, and I could sense he was eager to win. He made adjustments to his usual play in preparation for this encounter with me. I had a hard time at the beginning of the match. Compared to the smooth sailing in the group stage, it was challenging for me to find my rhythm against such a strong player. When the match was tied at 2-2, I got into my groove and played more assertively,\u201d said Chuqin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reigning champion Hugo Calderano closed out the day with the kind of performance that reminds us how he won the Men\u2019s World Cup in 2025. The Brazilian was pushed to the absolute limit by Japan\u2019s Shunsuke Togami, a close friend and club teammate in the German league, in a match that swung in every direction across seven games before Calderano finally prevailed 11-6, 8-11, 4-11, 11-4, 10-12, 11-4, 11-9. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Togami took the second, third and fifth games to put the pressure firmly on the defending champion, but Calderano dug deep and found another level when it mattered most and closed out the decider 11-9 to keep his title defence alive. It was a hard-fought win against a teammate who he often trains with and knows his game inside out, and a reminder that the road back to the title was never going to be straightforward. Calderano will face France\u2019s Alexis Lebrun in the quarterfinals tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS LAST 16 Women\u2019s singles:<\/strong> Honoka Hashimoto (Jpn) bt Bruna Takahashi (Bra) bt 11-6, 11-4, 11-3, 10-12, 11-4; Hana Goda (Egy) bt Jia Nanyuan (Fra) 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 14-16, 8-11, 11-8, 13-11; Shin Yubin (Chn) bt Yung Nan (Chn) 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 14-12; Chen Xingtong (Chn) bt Adrian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a history making moment at the ITTF World Cup Macao and one of the most memorable results<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-11214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-table-tennis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hana-Goda.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hana-Goda-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hana-Goda-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hana-Goda-768x512.jpg",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hana-Goda-1024x683.jpg",640,427,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hana-Goda-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hana-Goda-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hana-Goda-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hana-Goda-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hana-Goda.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11215,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11214\/revisions\/11215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Men\u2019s singles:<\/strong> Hugo Calderano (Bra) bt : Shunsuke Togami (Jpn) bt 11-6, 8-11, 4-11, 11-4, 10-12, 11-4, 11-9; Wang Chuqin (Chn) bt Felix Lebrun (Fra) 11-13, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 15-13; Lin Yun-ju (Tpe) bt Wen Ruibo (Chn) 11-7, 11-5, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7; Darko Jorgic (Svn) bt Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Ger) 11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9<\/p>\n\n\n\n