By Nick Creely
Noble Park table-tennis champion Heming Hu is one of the highest ranked players in Australia.
The 23-year-old Rio Olympian has been steadily building on the progress made at the 2016 games and is in brilliant touch as he looks to qualify for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018.
“Coming back from the Olympics last year and a season in Germany until February this year, my results have been quite good,” he said.
“I am currently ranked number two in Australia with a very narrow gap between the number one rank.
“I have won all the Victorian Open tournaments that I have played this year, including being the Victorian Open Men’s Singles event.
“I won the Australian Top10 Men’s Singles event, beating fellow number one Australian player Chris Yan in the final.
“I went on later after this event to win the Mixed Doubles National title with partner Melissa Tapper and come second at the National Championships to Chris Yan in the Men’s Singles Final.
“It was tough for me mentally to lose the final of the Nationals so closely but overall it has been a fantastic year for me.”
While Hu is yet to qualify for the Australian team for the Commonwealth Games, he is confident he is doing everything it takes to make his dream a reality.
“I would really like to qualify for (Commonwealth Games) and do well in it.
“We have our Commonwealth Games Trials in mid-January and this is the next thing that I am preparing for.
“I will be playing as many tournaments as I can in the meantime and heading over to Europe for one month from November to December to prepare for these trials.”
Since getting his first taste of life as an Australian Olympian, Hu has felt no need for a rest, instead he has worked on his craft to become an even more rounded player.
“After the Olympics last year I went straight to Germany to play professionally for almost a full season and really loved it,” he said.
“Since then I competed at the World Championships in Germany and World University Games in Taiwan.
“I would say I have been heavily working on the shots and sets of plays that occur in table tennis matches.
“There are always things that I need to improve a lot in but if I had to say one skill or shot that I am focusing most on it would have to be my service.”
Hu has also been giving back to the community by providing his coaching services.
“I really enjoy bringing other people into the sport and getting them to enjoy it,” he said.
“I am currently coaching a fair bit of table tennis and am looking to further expand on it in the near future after the Commonwealth Games.”
