LISBON – Egypt’s rising star Hana Gouda clinched the gold medal of the Portugal U-15 Table Tennis Championship.
Gouda was crowned the champion after beating her Russian rival Zlata Terekova 3-0 in the final.
The 13-year-old breezed through the group stage without dropping a game on the opening day of play and maintained her faultless record in the knock-out draw.
Germany’s Jele Stortz, France’s Gaetane Bled and Belarus’ Veranika Varabyova fought bravely; however, none managed to lay a finger on a relentless Goda.
Finally, Zlata Terekhova gave it her best shot, but it wasn’t to be for the Russian as a fatigued Goda finished the job (11-2, 11-4, 11-7).
“I loved this tournament. The atmosphere and the sports hall were very good, and everything was managed very well. I’m very, very tired. I can’t stand on my legs right now; the last two days felt like the longest ever as I played twelve matches,” Hana said.
“All the matches were really hard, and if the last match was a little bit longer, I wouldn’t have been able to produce the performance that I did because I was exhausted.
It’s something that gives me the confidence boost that I needed after losing the African Championships,” Hana, who celebrated a career milestone by making a massive jump from 1060th to 407th place in the ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking earlier in the week, added.
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