Pictures with England’s stars, social media activity and of course table-tennis – it has all been part of the adventures of Tin-Tin Ho at the Commonwealth Games.
The Bayswater teenager made headlines last week with her gallant final rubber defeat in the women’s team quarter-finals.
It was a tough baptism for Ho in her first major championship.
However, she is revelling in the experience having grabbed the chance for photos with two Olympic Champions from among her Team England teammates.
She said: “I’ve had photos taken with Nicola Adams and Bradley Wiggins and stuff, so there are a few heroes.
“I’ve been quite surprised at just how many people there are here. I keep seeing people from all different kinds of sports here. That takes a bit of getting used to and stuff.”
Ho’s on-table exploits have certainly caught the imagination of her year 10 classmates at City of London School Barbican who have been getting in touch to say they are following her adventures on-line.
“All my school-friends are just really happy for me I think," she said.
“They have been sending me good luck messages and things so lots of tweeting is going on.”
Ho was busy on day seven, teaming up with British men’s number two Liam Pitchford in the mixed doubles.
The duo first saw off Ham Lulu and Pareina Matariki of Vanuatu in straight games 11-4, 11-3, 11-3 before beating Welsh pair Ryan Jenkins and Charlotte Carey 11-5, 11-7, 11-5.
They will now face Teng Teng Liu and Karen Li of New Zealand in the fourth round tomorrow morning.
Before that Ho faces the unenviable task this evening of taking on Mengyu Yu of Singapore, silver medallist in Delhi four years ago in the second round of the singles.
Another west Londoner in action today has been Hounslow badminton star Rajiv Ouseph.
The silver medallist from Delhi four years ago, already a silver medallist here in the team event, made short work of beating Sahir Edoo of Mauritius 21-11, 21-6
The world ranked No 27, yet to have a day off at the championship, now has to face rising Singaporean Chao Huang in the round of 16.
Ouseph, admits the presence of Huang on the other side of the net means the tournament is about to change gear.
He said: “It is nice to be through another round. The tough matches start tomorrow though.
“I’m a little bit tired, but playing early helps as I have the rest of the day to recover.”
Meanwhile, North Greenford United U18s assistant manager John McGuinness’ hopes of a medal in the lawn bowls men’s fours remain alive after two shots on the final end saw England draw 12-12 with Northern Ireland to finish top of group C and qualify for the quarter-finals tomorrow lunchtime.
Keep up to date with the latest from our competitors with regular updates on GetWestLondon.
