England number one Tin-Tin Ho on her table tennis-obsessed father from Hong Kong: ‘My brother is called Ping, I was going to be called Pong’
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England women’s table tennis number one Tin-Tin Ho cites her Hong Kong-born, table tennis-obsessed father as a major contributor to her success. After all, he named his children in homage to the sport.
“He is mad about table tennis. My brother is called Ping and I was going to be called Pong – I got away with it a bit,” said the 21-year-old Ho, a two-time silver medallist at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games and four-time national champion.
“I’m called Tin-Tin because my initials are T.T. – it goes with table tennis. That gives a bit of insight into how much he loves it!”
Father Charles also enjoyed the double meaning of his daughter’s unique name, which in Chinese translates to sky. “My name’s Tin Tin in Cantonese so he likes to use the phrase ‘the sky is the limit’,” Ho said of the man who coached the siblings over their home table from childhood.
London-born Ho said her father grew up playing table tennis in Hong Kong before realising his dreams through his children. He trained both Ho and her elder brother at junior level, with the pair entering national and international competitions very early on. Ping has since taken up a full-time job as Ho continues to raise the ceiling in British women’s table tennis.