KUALA LUMPUR: Table tennis player Ho Ying is ready to push all the way despite slim chances of qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
The national players' last chance to get into the Olympics will be through the Asian qualifying tournament in May. The qualifiers, set to be held in Thailand for the Southeast Asian region, offer a ticket for male and female players.
There are also plans for the national paddlers to compete in Europe before the Asian qualifiers.
Ho Ying said the World Table Tennis feeder tournaments in Europe, Varazdin, Croatia (April 2-7) and Dusseldorf, Germany (April 8-12) — could sharpen the national players' skill.
She said the experience of reaching the knockout stage of the World Team Championships in Busan, South Korea, last month, has given the Malaysian players a much-needed confidence boost as they upstaged fancied Italy in the group stage.
"We have one final opportunity to qualify for the Olympics, and we are putting in a lot of effort during our training sessions. Participating in the Olympics is the ultimate dream of every athlete, and we are no exception. With proper preparations, we can perform well in the Asian qualification tournament," expressed Ho Ying.
Women's paddlers Lau Wai Cheng and Leong Mee Wan were the last Malaysians to qualify for the Olympics when they represented the country at the 1998 Seoul Games.
Ho Ying is also a popular social media figure as the 28-year-old has 41.7k followers on her Instagram account, where she posts table tennis-related content.
The Johorean uses social media to share her passion for table tennis.
"I only do my videos and social media posts in my free time, it's just a hobby. It doesn't take much time, I usually take around 15 minutes to shoot the videos," she said.
"My videos are on table tennis-playing techniques, I got the idea after table tennis fans asked me to share the techniques. I felt it was a chance to share about the sport that I love."
