‘My brother is called Ping and my dad wanted to call me Pong'
The 26-year-old Londoner has won the English National Championship a record-equalling seven times but remains relatively anonymous in the wider sporting consciousness, even after the Nike advert. Phase two of her career is about to launch though, starting with the World Table Tennis Star Contender event in Slovenia this week.
Phase one was a chaotic juggling act which involved studying for a degree in medicine at the University of Nottingham while at the same time playing club table tennis in Germany and competing around the world for Britain.
It came to a hectic climax in early April when she sat the last of her exams and then hot-footed it to the nationals to take the title again. Exams passed, she intends to become a psychiatrist. That, however, is for another day.
'My plan now will be to play full time for a few years and then hopefully go back to medicine afterwards,' says Ho. Free at last to devote herself to her art rather than her science, she has drawn a big red circle around the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, having already competed in the Tokyo Games.
Her sporting world view has traditionally been a narrow one, but she has felt it widening a little of late. 'I was quite inspired by Emma Raducanu at the US Open and I've been trying to follow the women's side of tennis since,' she says.
Ho is happy not to exist in the same goldfish bowl as Raducanu, but adds: 'I would also like to be good enough that everyone does know who I am. I would like to see how good I can be and where that can take me. I believe that I have a lot of potential so I hope it can be a long way.'
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