Favour Ojo learned to play table tennis on a makeshift wooden plank in her family compound, where she would join a group of boys playing. One day, she told her mother she wanted to play properly. Her mother took her straight to the stadium.
That was in 2021. Five years later, the 16-year-old is Nigeria’s lone female table tennis player at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal—the first Olympic event to be hosted on African soil.
“My mom is my greatest supporter,” Favour says. “And after getting to the stadium, my coach did so much for me.”
That coach is Omoniyi Adedotun, head table tennis coach for Ondo State and a Nigerian national team coach. He began training her in Akure in 2022.
“I noticed her talent, determination, willingness to learn, and competitive spirit,” Adedotun recalls. “I believed that with the right guidance, discipline, and consistent training, she could compete at the highest level.”
His belief mattered most when her own faltered. Favour played well at her first competition, then lost tournament after tournament. Discouraged, she stepped away from the sport.
Adedotun kept calling her mother, asking her to bring Favour back. She returned and soon afterwards won a tournament in Lagos.
“That was when I knew I could still do more,” she says. “That I could be better.”
Today, every training session begins with jogging, conditioning and footwork drills before she touches a bat. On days when her motivation runs low, Adedotun pushes her through.
“Now I’m grateful for everything he did,” she says.
Favour has progressed quickly. She won gold with Nigeria’s mixed team at the 4th Africa Youth Games in Angola. In October 2025, while still a junior, she played for Nigeria’s senior women’s team at the ITTF African Championships in Tunis. Nigeria reached the semi-finals of the team event before losing to Uganda.
“It was a huge achievement for me,” she reflects, “competing in the senior category while still a junior.”
The trip also showed what the sport asks of her. The championships fell during her school exams, and she chose to go. Her biggest sacrifice so far, she says, has been “leaving exams for sports.”
Balancing the two remains hard. “Most times, if I’m not in school, then I’m in competition,” she says. At school, there are few players strong enough to train with, so during term she works in the gym and saves her table training for when she is home.
Dakar was never part of her original plan. She had always dreamed of the senior Olympic Games. Now that the youth edition is being held on her own continent, she is delighted.
“It means a lot,” she says. “I’m looking forward to representing Nigeria.”
She will be one of 32 girls in the table tennis competition, which runs from 31 October to 5 November.
Favour’s ambitions go beyond Senegal. Once she finishes school, she hopes to train in France or China alongside high-level players.
“So I can have more exposure, train with high levels, and improve my game,” she says.
Her coach sees the same future for her. “As a coach, there is no greater satisfaction than discovering a young talent, helping to develop that talent, and seeing the athlete go on to represent her country successfully,” Adedotun says. “I believe this is only the beginning.”
