Isau Ogunkunle, 33, may not be a familiar name in Africa but the Nigerian has made name for himself at the 2019 Africa PTT Championships in Alexandria, Egypt, when he caused the biggest upset at the tournament.
The Ogun State-born Ogunkunle who is competing in Class Four as one of Nigeria’s representatives was set up against his idol – Egypt’s Mohamed Sameh Eid and he knew that for him to prove a point in Africa, he must surmount the world number 11 and Africa’s number one.
As Nigeria’s national champion, Isau Ogunkunle did the impossible in front of the Egyptian fans when he humbled the home hero in the first round of the Class Four singles event.
From the start of the encounter the unseeded Nigerian was full of confidence against the tournament’s number one seed by winning the first game at 11-8.
But Mohamed Sameh Eid had to rely on experience with a lot of topspin from the backhand to win the next two games at 8-11, 6-11.
Having discovered the weakness of his opponent after losing the second and third games, Isau Ogunkunle decided to play more to the Egyptian forehand and this worked for him as he won the fourth game by 11-2. The final and deciding game went the way of the Nigerian who led from the start to the end to win at 11-7. The excited Nigerian did not hid his joy after the big win when he said, he would be unstoppable having surmounted his biggest challenge in the competition with the victory.
“In 2011 when I first played against Mohamed Sameh Eid, he defeated me 3-0 but after the match he came to me to comfort and encourage me not to give up. Since then we have been friends and we communicate with each other regularly. He became my idol in the game,” Isau Ogunkunle said.
However, the romance for table tennis for Isau Ogunkunle did not come by leisure but by sheer determination to make it big in life. “I was in school in 2005 when I lost my father and it was difficult for me to continue schooling so I dropped out. I decided to embrace shoemaking as a vocation. But it was in 2010 that somebody who came to patronize me invited me to table tennis hall and that was how I started playing table tennis.”
At the Nigeria national sports festival in 2012, Isau ogunkunle became the national champion and since then there has not been opportunity for him to be part of the national team. But in 2018 at the National Sports Festival held in Abuja, he retained his title in Class four and this earned him a place in the team again. But Isau Ogunkunle said: “I will not allow this second chance to slip my hand again as I am hoping to make to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan. I know it is a big hurdle but I am ready to go through it and fulfill my dream of competing at big stage,” he said.
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Now a vantage position to make it big in Egypt, Isau Ogunkunle has vowed that he would unstoppable in his dream to clinch the title.