SIFAX Group ‘adopts’ Tokyo-bound Quadri Aruna, Funke Oshonaike

As efforts to guarantee podium finishes of Team Nigeria athletes at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics gathers momentum, two of Nigeria’s top table tennis players, Quadri Aruna and Funke Oshonaike, were on Tuesday in Lagos adopted by the SIFAX Group.

The announcement came after a meeting with the chairman of the Sifax Group, HRM Oba (Dr) Olusanya Adegboyega Dosunmu, and the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare. 

The two members of Team Nigeria, Oshonaike and Aruna, were adopted under the ‘Adopt-an-Athlete’ initiative of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development by SIFAX Group.

The two athletes were adopted to support their preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

With the adoption of the two elite athletes, the total number of Team Nigeria athletes adopted under the ‘Adopt-an-Athlete’ initiative of the FMYSD has risen to 18.

Oshonaike, a six-time Olympian, will set a record of being the first African woman to compete in seven consecutive Olympic Games. She will also become the first woman to join the International Table Tennis Federation ‘Club of 7’ comprised of players to have competed seven times at the Games.

Aruna is the first African to make it to the men’s singles quarter-final stage at the Olympics, and will be making his third appearance at the Games, having competed at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games.