Rising star helps WA to a bronze at national titles

Albany table tennis dynamo Mia Zou played a leading hand in WA claiming a bronze medal at the Australian National Junior Table Tennis Championships in South Australia last week.

Part of the four-member WA under-18 girls' team, Mia dropped only three matches out of 21 for the tournament, as WA narrowly missed out on claiming the silver medal after being level on tie wins and match points with Victoria and New South Wales.

With NSW defeating Victoria and WA falling to the Victorians in the second last round, WA were relegated to the bronze medal position.

Mia, 16, began the championships with a solid four-set win over South Australia's Marsha Guseva 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6, before two consecutive straight-sets victories against Danielle Stander and Janelle Cabonce.

Mia dropped one match against Tasmania's Maddy Goodsell in five sets, but enjoyed straight-set and four-set wins against her other two Tasmanian opponents before a clean sweep against the Presidents, New South Wales B and Queensland.

She faced her toughest competition in the sixth and seventh rounds, going down in straight sets to Victoria's Jasmine Chao (8-11, 7-11, 5-11) and NSW's Sarah Tan (9-11, 9-11 13-15) to round out the tournament.