by Olalekan Okusan, ITTF-Africa Press Officer

The 19 year old pen-holder, who also secured Mixed Doubles silver in the Gold Coast in partnership with Liam Pitchford, hopes the Commonwealth Games performance will motivate the team in Sweden..

“It was an amazing experience. Everyone was so friendly; especially the staff and they made us feel very welcome. The way everyone united over their passion for sport was inspiring and I was lucky to be part of something so special. To compete in the Games was incredible. The atmosphere in the hall was really good, even when Australia was not competing, there were still many spectators; this is so encouraging for our sport.” Tin Tin Ho

Undoubtedly in the Oxenford Studios, the venue for the table tennis events, time and again the tiered seating was full to capacity.

“The performance at the Commonwealth Games has given us a boost as we won the first ever medal for England in the Women’s Team event. As a team we performed very well; we were all behind each other. This is very important as it could be the difference between winning and losing at the World Championships so we are ready to do our best like we did in Gold Coast.” Tin-Tin Ho

In Halmstad, Tin-Tin Ho lines up alongside 16 year old Denise Payet and 20 years of age Maria Tsaptsinos.

“We have put the Commonwealth Games behind us and we are now starting to prepare as we would any other tournament. I feel ready as I have been, playing many matches recently so I should be in the right frame of mind once the tournament starts. We would like to win as many matches as possible. It would be amazing if we could get promoted to the highest division but we will take one match at a time and try to perform well as a team.” Tin-Tin Ho

England competes in Division Two and is drawn in the same group as Chile Switzerland, Serbia, Canada and the Dominican Republic.