Paddington teenager part of squad that won bronze on Gold Coast
Tin-Tin Ho expressed delight at helping England collect a bronze medal in the women’s team table tennis event.
The 19-year-old Londoner won six of her seven matches during the tournament England got on the podium with a 3-1 victory over hosts Australia in the bronze medal match.
And it was two tense, tight victories by Ho, ranked number 114 in the world, which made all the difference.
Ho began the tie with a 3-2 (11-4, 8-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-8) defeat of Melissa Tapper, but it was 1-1 when Jian Fang Lay overcame Kelly Sibley 3-2 (5-11, 21-19, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7) in the second match.
Sibley and Maria Tsaptsinos restored England’s advantage with a 3-1 (11-2, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7) triumph over Lay and Miao Miao in a doubles match.
That left it to Ho to seal overall victory, and the medal with a gutsy 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 14-12, 11-13, 11-6) defeat of Miao, despite missing a match point in the fourth set.
Ho said: “When I lost that I told myself it could have gone either way. I just had to forget about it.
“I’ve been in that situation before when I’ve been up and lost so I’m really glad this time I’ve learned from that.”
Ho had been unbeaten as England reached the semi-finals thanks to 3-0 victories over Guyana and Vanuatu in the groups and a 3-1 defeat of Canada in the quarter-finals.
However, they came up against eventual gold medallists India in the semi-finals and were beaten 3-0, with Ho losing 3-1 (11-7, 13-11, 10-12, 11-8) to Madhurika Patkar in the second match.
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