By Nicholas Creely
When hopes are high but the dream falls into a heap, the pain can either bring a downfall or turn into a silver lining for change.
For Noble Park table-tennis star Heming Hu, who recently represented Australia at the Rio Olympics in 2016, the journey has been agonizing but well worth it.
“When I was about 15 or 16, I had my first youth Olympic trials,” he said.
“I unfortunately missed out on making the Australian team by just one spot, essentially one point, and I really struggled to deal with that failure.
“At the time, I viewed it more as a failure than a potential stepping stone because it was always a childhood dream to play in the Olympics in some form of sport.
“I eventually came back when I was around 17, 18 and I just kept going and pushing myself and I was able to represent Australia.
“I fell in love with the game because there are so many different elements about it – what made you a good player was through so many different ways,” he said.
“The feeling of winning in this sport is very good and much different than any other sport.”
But Hu doesn’t plan on stopping and is currently overseas continuing to improve his game and make it professionally.
“I am currently here in Germany playing full-time table tennis for a club called SV Union Velbert,” he said.
“I came here straight from the Rio Olympic Games to try and improve my standard.
“Here in Germany, it is around four to five hours of training a day, two sessions, on most days.”
While Hu concedes that table-tennis in Australia is just a hobby sport and that has made his journey a little bit more difficult, he strongly believes the future is truly bright.
“The future in Australia is good – there is a lot of young players coming through which is good but for me it all depends on how much time we can spend overseas because here is where most of the improvement and exposure is,” he said.
