Dual Olympian Heming Hu announces retirement

Dual Olympian and Commonwealth Games representative Heming Hu has announced his retirement from table tennis.

He started playing table tennis in his garage at the age of six and has since gone on to have an international career that spanned almost a decade.

The 28-year-old first started his senior international career at the 2013 Commonwealth Championships before going on to represent Australia at two Olympic Games (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020), two Commonwealth Games (Glasgow 2014, Gold Coast 2018) as well as various World Championships, World Cups and ITTF-Oceania Championships.

Hu won back-to-back ITTF-Oceania Cups singles titles in 2018 and 2019 which led him to the  ITTF Men’s World Cup - his favourite event, where he was the only representative from Oceania.

He also won three gold medals at the ITTF-Oceania Championships at the 2014 and 2018 editions in the doubles and teams events.

Throughout his career, the Victorian has been able to meet and play against his table tennis heroes as well as become Australian no.1 and men’s singles national champion.

In announcing his retirement, Hu said table tennis has made him become a stronger person, mentally and emotionally.

“It’s been a tough journey knowing I’m at the end of my career,” Hu said. “There have been stages of life where it has been my whole identity to play table tennis, be a table tennis player and be known for that.

“Until I knew what I was going to do after, it was a depressing stage but it’s all these things that toughen us up when we look deeper in how we want to live our lives and give back to the world,” he added. 

Following the announcement of his retirement, Table Tennis Australia CEO Scott Houston paid tribute to the lasting impact Heming has made on Australian table tennis and the National Team. 

“Playing in two Commonwealth Games and two Olympic Games is a tremendous achievement and Heming should be proud of everything he has accomplished,” said Houston.
 
“On behalf of TTA, we thank Heming for his service to the National Team and Australian table tennis. 
 
“I hope that Heming looks back on his time in the green and gold positively and in due course has the opportunity to realise the significance of his achievements.”
 
TTA would like to wish Heming the best of luck in the next phase of his life and hopes that it will involve table tennis in some capacity.