Eyes on the prize: Charlie Hollow, 10, gets ready for the National Hopes Challenge and the Melbourne Open. Happy with that: Georgia Hollow, 7, practises her table tennis prior to the Melbourne Open. Pictures: Supplied
UP-AND-COMING table tennis siblings, Georgia and Charlie Hollow, headed into Melbourne for the Melbourne Junior Open and the National Hopes Challenge on Monday 21 January.
The Mornington Peninsula table tennis juniors competed in the under-11s singles and doubles competitions at the Melbourne Open where they returned with some top results.
Georgia, who is just seven-years-old, finished third in the under-11s Girls singles while her brother, Charlie, also landed third prize in the under-11s Boy’s singles.
The brother-sister combination then paired up in the under-11s doubles where they finished runners-up.
Their father, Scott Hollow, couldn’t be happier to see his kids do so well.
“[Charlie’s] improving all the time,” he said.
“He’s now third in Victoria and top 10 in the country. He’s playing in the second highest grade of pennant and he’s almost up to getting me and he’s only 10-years-old.
“[Georgia’s] only seven and competing in the under-11s so she’s doing a remarkable job for someone who’s only just started.”
Charlie also participated in the National Hopes Challenge where 30 juniors from across Australia were given the opportunity to gain coaching from some of the best coaches in the country.
As part of the challenge, Charlie did 26 hours of training with the elite coaches across four days before competing in a round robin on the fifth and final day. The winner of the round robin was given the chance to represent Australia at the Oceania Hopes Challenge in New Zealand.
Overall, Charlie finished seventh in the round robin but had a lot of fun meeting and playing with some of the top table tennis players in Australia.
Charlie and Georgia will continue to compete in their Mornington Peninsula pennant leagues at Civic Reserve as well as playing in a couple of other junior groups on Friday nights.
Charlie will be playing in the new Friday Night Junior Pennant league which will kick off on Friday 22 March, while Georgia will continue to take part in the ‘Spinkids’ group which started up again on Friday 1 March.
For more information on either of the junior groups email: mptta88@gmail.com.
First published in the Western Port News – 5 February 2019
