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Rising star Obie on WA team

Sophie ElliottBusselton Dunsborough Times
Geographe Bay Table Tennis Club's Obie Herring is the only country representative in the WA state team which will go to the Australian Championships in Wollongong in July.
Camera IconGeographe Bay Table Tennis Club's Obie Herring is the only country representative in the WA state team which will go to the Australian Championships in Wollongong in July. Credit: Jackson Lavell-Lee

Busselton’s table tennis rising star Obie Herring will represent the State at the National Junior Table Tennis Championship next month.

Obie was selected for the WA junior development squad in February.

He will be the only regional player to don the black and gold for WA in his under 13s team.

Obie’s passion for table tennis began in late 2017 when Geographe Bay Table Tennis Club visited his school. The teen had recently won Georgiana Molloy Anglican School’s primary table tennis competition, and club members were so impressed with his skills they invited him to join the club.

By January 2018, Obie made the decision to give up hockey and tennis to pursue his interest in table tennis.

Since then, he has gone on to help the club launch its Smash Hit Juniors for which he is a coach, and won a multitude of titles.

Most recently, he went back-to-back and claimed top honours in the under-13s at the South West Open Table Tennis Tournament for the second year in a row.

He was also the winner in the B- grade singles and doubles, and he came second in the under-18s singles, at the State event.

A shy but dedicated Obie said his game plan devised by Matt Cheng involves being as attacking as possible to keep his opponents on the back foot.

“Everyone is cheering me on so I’m feeling really good,” he said.

“Victoria have the Oceania’s number one player so they have high expectations and they train over 20 hours a week so I’ve been working with Matt and training with my machine at home a lot in preparation.”

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