Young star showcases skills in match against Olympian

While a 16-year-old Albany table tennis star has her sights on a national championship next month, she had to conquer a different kind of challenge last Tuesday.

Mia Zou was selected to represent the State in the under-21 women's team in Melbourne for the national championships from July 4-11, but last week she played table tennis in front of her classmates at Great Southern Grammar School against Olympian basketballer and sport teacher Paul Rogers.

Mia said she was nervous before the match because it was her first time playing in front of so many people.

"I hope I do my best because I'm representing Western Australia," she said. GSG headmaster Stuart Marquardt said he wanted students to see "excellence in action" through Mia's table tennis skills.

"We were wanting to provide an opportunity for Mia to demonstrate her skills to the rest of the students and we believe the most talented staff member in terms of table tennis is Paul Rogers - that's why he got the job to take Mia on," he said.

"He's played sports at the highest level. He's a dual Olympian so he's pretty co-ordinated. Whether he can match it with Mia is another question."

Students crowded into the gym expectantly to watch the battle between an Olympic athlete and a national competitor.

The young athlete took the match very seriously.

In the end it paid off because she swept the competition.

"I hope (the students) take away an appreciation of the skill that's involved in table tennis and, you know, an appreciation too that table tennis is an Olympic sport and it's something that you can certainly go a long way in," Mr Marquardt said.

"Mia's certainly got the ability to do that if she keeps working hard at it."