On court action: Olympic hopeful Heming Hu in action. Pictures: Table Tennis Australia
A TABLE tennis player in the hunt for a berth at this year’s Tokyo Olympics is the new club ambassador and high performance coach at Mornington Peninsula Table Tennis Association.
Heming Hu, who represented Australia at the 2016 Brazil Olympics, and the 2014 Glasgow and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, complements the association’s in-house coaching team.
Heming was the 2019 Australian men’s singles champion, the 2018/19 men’s Oceania Cup singles champion and reached a world ranking high of 67.
Asked why he has partnered with the Mornington Peninsula Table Tennis Association, Heming, a secondary school teacher, said: “I want to put back into the sport that has been good to me and I see MPTTA as not only having perhaps the best facilities in the state, but also an inviting culture, regardless of age, ability and gender.
“I look forward to visiting schools to support students to be active through table tennis, and also to inspire the future generation on handling pressure, creating and reaching goals, bouncing back from adversity, respect, enjoyment and time management.”
Mornington Peninsula Table Tennis Association is the second largest in Victoria serving the peninsula and Frankston with world-class facilities. It hosted the Oceania qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2019.
Its sports and programs include Spinneroos and girls’ only Spinneroos for primary school-aged children, junior programs for 10-18 year olds, social play, competition leagues, Get FITT (for females in table tennis) and an award winning All Abilities program.
There is also Keenagers (for retirees) as well as coaching at the centre in the Mornington Sports Precinct, 350 Dunns Road, Mornington.
Details: mptta88@gmail.com or call the centre manager on 0498 003 788.
