Tin-Tin Ho is ready to make history – and you could be there to see her do it!
The England No 1 goes into the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships aiming for her eighth Women’s Singles title.
If she succeeds, it will move her clear of England legend and Table Tennis England President Jill Parker MBE and into the outright lead at the top of the all-time list – both are currently on seven.
Tin-Tin says it would be a proud moment for her and her family is she could get on the top step of the podium again – but she won’t be changing the way she goes about tackling the event.
“It feels good to be going for the record, but I’ll approach it the same as all the other years, it doesn’t feel any different in that way,” she said.
“I think I’m in good shape. I’m playing full-time now and I’m trying to level up. It’s going quite well and I’m hoping to bring my best game to the Nationals.
“It would be an honour to have the record, for me and my family. I think it would mean a lot to them as well, so I really hope I can do it for them.”
It was in 2016 that Tin-Tin won her first title, beating five-time champion Kelly Sibley, having lost to her in the final the previous year.
Since then, she has won seven of the nine titles – there was a blank year because of the pandemic – and reached the final on in the other two years, losing to Maria Tsaptsinos on each occasion.
“The first one will always be the most memorable, it was quite an emotional one for me,” said Tin-Tin. “Many, many years went into that. I remember losing in a lot of semi-finals and maybe finals, and I doubted I would ever make it, so it felt good to do it.
“Losing to Maria, at the time, they hurt quite a lot, but in general it’s made me stronger. It’s tough to play a good friend in the final, but I don’t think about that too much now.”
The final last year was one of her toughest, s she recovered from 3-0 down to defeat Tianer Yu 4-3 – having also been taken to seven by Tianer in the semi-finals the previous year.
“They were quite tough and I’m happy I could get through them,” said Tin-Tin. “Hopefully I can keep doing that.”
Tin-Tin’s Women’s Singles finals
- 2015: Lost to Kelly Sibley 4-2 (14-12, 11-4, 9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9)
- 2016: Beat Kelly Sibley 4-2 (9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 3-11, 11-5, 11-8)
- 2017: Beat Kelly Sibley 4-1 (12-10, 6-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-4)
- 2018: Beat Kelly Sibley 4-1 (6-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8)
- 2019: Lost to Maria Tsaptsinos 4-2 (11-5, 13-11, 11-13, 7-11, 11-5, 11-5)
- 2020: Beat Mari Baldwin 4-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6)
- 2022: Lost to Maria Tsaptsinos 4-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-7, 14-12)
- 2023: Beat Emily Bolton 4-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-9, 12-10)
- 2024: Beat Jasmin Wong 4-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-1, 11-8)
- 2025: Beat Tianer Yu 4-3 (7-11, 9-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-5, 11-5)