Tin-Tin Ho found a silver lining in the wake of Commonwealth Games mixed doubles defeat in Glasgow today.
The Bayswater teenager and partner Liam Pitchford narrowly lost to england’s No 1 pairing Paul and Joanna Drinkhall in the gold medal match at Scotstoun Stadium when their brave fight-back came up just short.
Tears came in the wake of the 11-7, 11-3, 5-11, 10-12, 11-5 defeat.
However, there was soon the realisation silver was an unexpected bonus on top of a wonderful experience at her first major international.
“I’m disappointed now, but when I wake up tomorrow with a silver medal in my bag I’m going to be really happy,” she said.
“This has been a great experience.”
Pitchford and Ho, a scratch pairing giving away bags of experience to the husband and wife team on the other side of the net, looked a little overawed at the start as the first two games slipped away.
Facing a whitewash the younger pairing upped their game to hit back to take the third game, before racing into a 7-2 lead in the next as well.
The rally looked to have petered out when they were caught first 8-8 and then at 10-10, but a couple of errors from Paul Drinkhall saw them take the game and force a decider.
Whether the enormity of what they were on the cusp of got to them or not Ho and Pitchford were always struggling in the fifth, the 15-year-old netting forehand drives she had earlier hit for winners.
Nevertheless, Ho was confident her dad Charles, her coach since she first picked up a bat, would be proud of the adventures of Tin-Tin in Glasgow.
“It was probably nerves at the start, but then at the end of the second game we slowed things down a bit and tried to play a bit more tactically clever, she added.
“We got back in but just could not take that final game, but I think dad will be really happy.
“He isn’t here as he went back last night, but it was really nice that he could see our semi-final match yesterday. That was a great experience beating the No 1 seeds.”
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