Tin-Tin Ho: ‘It’d be great if table tennis becomes as popular as darts or snooker’

Table tennis has enjoyed a higher profile than usual recently with the impact of Marty Supreme. The film about the New York shoe salesman with global ping pong dreams earned nine Oscar nominations and was a box office hit.

For Tin-Tin Ho, it was a welcome turn in the spotlight for a sport that she has always suspected most Britons think of as more of a hobby. “Maybe the film has helped change that a bit,” she said.

For the London-born Ho, England’s national champion, table tennis is a serious business, an obsession even. Brought up in a family home converted so the bottom floor was essentially a training facility for her and her brother Ping, she was raised to excel in table tennis.

Her father Charles, a former Hong Kong international, wanted to call her Pong. After being over-ruled by her mother Rita, they compromised on a first name with the same initials as the game. She had a bat in her hand as a two-year-old and it was rarely out of it thereafter.

By 17, she had won her first national women’s title. A decade on, she now has eight national titles, breaking the all-time record last month. Her résumé – which includes becoming the first British woman to compete at an Olympics for 25 years at the Games in Tokyo – is all the more impressive given that she was juggling medical studies for much of that time at the University of Nottingham.

Having qualified as a doctor last year, she has now put medicine to one side and is enjoying the opportunity to make a go of being a full-time athlete.

“It’s great because I can just focus completely on table tennis and in between tournaments I can rest as well. I don’t have to worry about studying,” she said. “It’s hard to give up, though. I had a five-hour layover in Istanbul for a tournament recently. In the past I would have used that to go on Passmed – which is a question bank – and do multiple questions. I used to do that all the time when I was travelling.

“I found myself missing it and I was actually considering paying for the subscription and getting it again but I was like: ‘No, I can’t do that.’”

Her long-term plan is to become a psychiatrist but that career lies in the distance. This is her time to push on at the table.

“I hope in the long term I can be a good psychiatrist but I would like to reach my potential as a table tennis player first,” says Ho. “I think there is still some way to go. I want to become as good as I can be. I don’t want to focus on a number but I’d love to be a top 50 player in the world or higher. That would be good.”

Ho, who is currently No 165 in the world and plays her club table tennis in Spain with UCAM Cartagena, has already begun to see some of the benefits of focusing solely on her sport.

“Technically, all my shots have improved but I think the biggest thing for me is the improvement in my mindset,” she says. “With that comes consistency and being able to adapt quickly in matches.”

One tool she uses on the mental side is her journalling, which she first used to combat an eating disorder that she briefly suffered from at university. Every day she will jot down “wins” in her journal, not necessarily table tennis ones, just things she has done well.

“I’m trying to view myself more as a winner in life,” she said. “I can be quite self-critical so it’s important to take note of the little wins. The idea is to retrain your brain. Rather than consciously thinking: ‘Be positive, be a winner.’ I’m trying to cover all that in my subconscious so that will translate on to the table.”

As an English table tennis player you need all the psychological assistance you can lay your hands on when you are about to take on the best in the business. The table tennis behemoths are about to roll into London for the World Team Championships, spearheaded by defending champions China and teams for the Far East.

Ho will be leading England’s women’s team when they take on the formidable Japanese in their opening match on Saturday, 2 May.

“It’s a big deal,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to get the chance to play against the big teams. It would be really good to score some upsets in the group stage and hopefully come into the knockout round strongly and win a match there as well. Last 16, I think, is quite realistic. I view it as a long-term journey for us. We’re still quite a young team. But I hope in the future we can win medals.”

With the top 64 nations competing in both the men’s and women’s tournaments, this is a table tennis extravaganza in the country where the sport originated – whiff-whaff’s coming home and all that. It is a gospel-spreading opportunity for a sport that resides largely in the shadows but which Ho is convinced has the ingredients to catch on more widely.

“It’s not like a typical sport. It’s got its own unique twist to it. It’s quite edgy,” she said. “There’s potential there because a lot of people love playing table tennis. The tables outside in London, there’s always people playing…

“It would be great if there’s a big surge and it becomes as popular as darts or snooker. This is a great opportunity for us to showcase the sport with the championships here.”

Photograph by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images