Tin-Tin Ho took three titles at the table tennis Senior National Championships and narrowly missed out on a fourth.
The 16-year-old from Paddington won the mixed doubles, women’s doubles, U21 women’s singles and lost in the final of the senior women’s singles.
The senior final saw her come from 2-0 down to level against top seed Kelly Sibley but she went on to lose 4-2 (14-12, 11-4, 9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9) as Sibley took her fifth title.
In the mixed, an inspired timeout turned the tide as she and partner Sam Walker came from 1-0 and 5-1 down to beat Danny Reed & Sibley.
Whatever was said at the timeout by coach Howard Knott worked as Walker & Ho worked their way back into the game and took it 11-8. The third was an even fight but the champions kept their noses in front to take it 11-9.
Reed & Sibley motored into an 8-1 and then 10-2 lead in the fourth, but Walker & Ho reeled off 10 points to take it 12-10.
Ho said: “Howard just said we had to something different and find a way to get back into it – just try anything we hadn’t tried. We both just relaxed and played and started to dominate more.”
The women’s doubles saw Ho and Maria Tsaptsinos beat Karina Le Fevre & Emma Vickers 3-1 (11-5, 11-9, 4-11, 11-8).
In the U21s, Ho won 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-9) against Tsaptsinos, getting revenge for defeat in last year’s final and in the Junior Nationals in November.
She said: “I was extra motivated after losing to Maria last year and at the Juniors. I think this time I relaxed a bit and tried to play my game and not worry about anything else. I felt quite stable, I didn’t miss much and had more control.
“Overall, I’m quite happy. It would have been nice to win the women’s singles but Kelly is really strong.
“I feel I have a few things to work on and I need to be more clever in the way I play.”
