HANFFOU Sarah

Cameroon

Table Tennis

Date of Birth: 8 Oct 1986

Age: 34

Gender: Female

Place of birth: ROUBAIX

Birth Country:

France

Place of residence : TOULON

Residence Country:

France

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Table Tennis	Women's Singles	65

Schedule

Change

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
	Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium Table 2	Women's Singles Preliminary Round #6 CMR HANFFOU SHANFFOU Sarah 1 BUL TRIFONOVA PTRIFONOVA Polina 4	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

Athlete:

Olympic Games

Year	Location	Singles
2012	London, GBR	1R

World Championships

Year	Location	Singles	Doubles W	Doubles X	Team
2019	Budapest, HUN	1R	2R	-	-
2017	Dusseldorf, GER	-	1R	-	-
2015	Suzhou, CHN	1R	2R	-	-
2013	Paris, FRA	-	-	1R	-
2007	Zagreb, CRO	1R	1R	1R	-
2006	Bremen, GER	-	-	-	18
2004	Doha, QAT	-	-	-	20

African Games

Year	Location	Singles	Doubles X
2019	Rabat, MAR	2	Last 16

African Championships

Year	Location	Singles
2018	Port Louis, MRI	QF

Legend
W - Winner, RU - Runner-up, SF - Semifinal, QF - Quarterfinal, 4R - 4th Round, 3R - 3rd Round, 2R - 2nd Round, 1R - 1st Round, Prel. Rnd - Preliminary Round, L16 - Last 16, L32 - Last 32, L64 - Last 64, M - Men, W - Women, X - Mixed

Occupation:

Athlete, Lawyer, Manager

Education:

Law - University of Lille, France

Languages spoken:

French

Club name:

La Garde Tennis de Table [France]

Hand:

Right (cornilleau.com, 2020)

Injuries:

She sustained a wrist injury in 2015. (Var-Matin, 07 Dec 2020)

Start:

She took up the sport at age eight in Lille, France. (cornilleau.com, 2020)

Reason:

She followed her brother into the sport. "Table tennis has helped me to open my mind. I wouldn't be the person I am today without table tennis. It allowed me to travel a lot and to discover different cultures. I think I will never stop practising it." (cornilleau.com, 2020)

Memorable:

Winning gold at the 2010 African Championships in Yaounde, Cameroon, and competing at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. (cornilleau.com, 2020)

General Interest

Style of play
Attack (cornilleau.com, 2020)

General
CHARITY WORK
In 2006 she founded 'Ping Sans Frontieres' [Table Tennis Without Borders], a charity organisation that aims to introduce table tennis to people from disadvantaged backgrounds and supply equipment to those in need. She was inspired to create the organisation after competing at the 2005 Francophone Games in Niamey, Niger. "The [Niger] national team played on a table by the road, with a net full of holes. It was the click moment in my life. I couldn't live without this kind of project. I have the feeling to serve something bigger than myself, which gives sense to my life." In 2021 she teamed up with the French Development Agency [AFD] and the organising committee for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris to create a table tennis development and support project in Takoradi, Ghana. "Our target is all the public schools of the city to propose the practising of table tennis as an extracurricular activity." (tokyo2020.org, 30 Mar 2021; sportmag.fr, 19 Sep 2019; pingsansfrontieres.org, 2021)

FRANCE TO CAMEROON
Born in France to French mother and a Cameroonian father, she grew up in France and represented her country of birth at international level until she decided to take a break from her table tennis career in 2007, during her third year of law studies. "The training sessions were not compatible with my schedule and did not have any arrangement. Besides, I was aware of my limits and I knew that I did not have the performance to compete in major tournaments." In 2010 she returned to the sport and decided to represent Cameroon. "I really wanted to renovate my link with this country. And I also want to create a network for my association [Ping Sans Frontieres]." (Var-Matin, 07 Dec 2020; sportmag.fr, 19 Sep 2019; cornilleau.com, 2020)

ARMY
She served five years in the French army as a legal officer. (cornilleau.com, 2020)

FURTHER STUDIES
She has a masters' degree in law from the University of Paris in France. She also has a masters' degree in fundamental rights from the University of Aix-en-Provence in France. (africancourtconsulting.com, 2016)

OTHER ROLES
She has served as member of the athletes' commission of the International Table Tennis Federation [ITTF]. (ittffoundation.org, 2018)

Social Media

https://www.facebook.com/people/Sarah-Hanffou/767014304
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/MeSarahHanffou/
https://instagram.com/sarah_hanffou/
https://twitter.com/HanffouSarah
Athlete Website: https://www.hanffou-avocat.com/

Legend

:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event

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