ONE FAMILY - TWO RISING TABLE TENNIS STARS

The TTA Tour in Sydney was held from 29 to 30 May 2021 at Sydney Olympic Park.

11 year old NSW junior table tennis player Lily Zhang won the Silver Medal for the U13 Girls Singles. Her elder sister, 14 year old Ally Zhang won the Silver Medal for the U15 Girls Singles and the Silver Medal for the U17 Girls Singles.

Ally said: "Table tennis has been my passion since I was 7 years old, and my coach has always been Paul Zhao. I started training with Paul Zhao in 2016. I was selected into the NSW State Junior Team for the 2018 Australian National Junior Championships and the 2019 Australian National Junior Championships.”

Ally continued: “In 2020, I won the Gold Medal for the U13 Girls Singles in NSW Junior Open Championships and the Silver Medal in SNDTTA Teams Division 3 where competitions were

held every week. In 2021, I won the Gold Medal for the U15 Girls Singles in the NSW Junior Closed Championships and the NSW Junior Open Championships. I also won the Gold Medal in the U19 Girls Singles in the NSW Junior Top 10 Challenge.”

Lily said: "I started playing table tennis when I was 5 years old with Paul Zhao. I won my first silver medal in 2016 and I have training with Paul Zhao all the way till now.”

Lily continued: “I was selected into the NSW State Junior Team for the 2018 Australian National Junior Championships and the 2019 Australian National Junior Championships. I won the Gold Medal for the U11 Girls Singles in the 2020 NSW Junior Open Championships and the Gold Medal for the U11 Girls Singles in the 2020 Junior Top Ten Challenge. In 2021 I won the Gold Medal for the  U1000 Div Singles and in the 2021 NSW Open Championships, the Silver Medal for the U11 Girls Singles. I also won a Bronze Medal in the 2021 NSW Junior Top 10 Challenge and the U11 Girls Singles in 2021 NSW Junior Open Championships.”

Both Ally and Lily train 3-4 times a week for between 1 and 2 hours with their coach Paul Zhao. They think that table tennis is an excellent sport which includes lots of sportsmanship. They are also happy to play table tennis because they have a great chance to make new friends. They wish to become professional and stronger table tennis players in the future and to achieve their goals.

Ally and Lily thanked their coach Paul Zhao and their parents, for helping them towards accomplishing their goals in table tennis and future competitions.

TTNSW Junior Team Manager, Leonie Whiteford, said “Well done, girls! Congratulations on Lily’s selection into 2021 National Hopes Squad. I am afraid that Ally and Lily’s family will have to buy a huge house to display their medals and trophies if they continue to win.”

Vice President of TTNSW, Ted Davis said “Both Ally and Lily are talent in table tennis, and TTNSW is definitely cheering them on as they achieve their goals. We are looking forward to hearing the good news from Ally and Lily in July National Junior Championships.”

Alice Lee, David Lee and Michael Li thank Ally Zhang, Lily Zhang and Julie Wang for the interview, discussion, advice and support in contributing to this article.