Ing Hock hopes to become a coach after retiring

KUALA LUMPUR: After 14 years in the National Paralympic table tennis squad and winning 13 gold medals in seven ASEAN Para Games, paddler Ting Ing Hock, is considering to call it a day from competitions to focus on becoming a coach.

Ing Hock who first started representing the country at the 2003 APG in Hanoi, Vietnam, hopes to train young players so that his absence would not be felt.

In the 9th APG, Ing Hock, 52, was rather disappointed for not achieving the two-gold target that he had set for himself, although he managed to win a gold and silver medal.

"To be honest I am very disappointed because on paper I was the favourite to win both the gold medals but my opponent Supriyatna Gumilar from Indonesia played well today," he said.

In the men's SM 9 (players with mild impairment affecting the legs or playing arm), Ing Hock lost 8-11, 7-11, 9-11 to Gumilar after having won the gold medal earlier by partnering Chee Chao Ming and Hong Chin Sing in the same event.

“It will not be easy to become a coach and player at the same time because I will have to train the players and train for myself," said Ing Hock from Kuching, Sarawak who had joined the Malaysian centralised training camp in July.

Ing Hock said he became a para table tennis player after meeting with an accident at the age of 33 and classified as 'mild cerebral palsy' athlete.

"I joined the para table tennis team after five years although I was already representing Sarawak before the accident,” he said.

The table tennis team added two silver and six bronze medals on the final day of action yesterday, all from singles events. - Bernama