By Tara Murray
Melton rising squash star Tina Ma has added another Oceania title to her growing cabinet of trophies.
The teenager late last month won the under-17 title having previously won the under-13 title and then having twice claimed the under-15 total.
“I didn’t have any expectations since anything could happen, but my coaches said that they didn’t care what the result was as long as I tried my best,“ she said.
“So I was determined to give it my all on court and hopefully get the win, which I did.”
Ma said all the wins are equally as important as each other and they’re all motivation to keep training and push hard.
She backed up her title by being part of Australia’s Trans Tasman Cup side.
She won both her matches as Australia won the event for the first time.
“It felt great winning both of my matches knowing it helped contribute to Australia taking the win over NZ,” she said.
“I’m super proud of the Australians as we had never won the Trans-Tasman in New Zealand before, and I had such a great time with the team, it was so fun seeing the spirit and energy of everyone cheering each other on.”
Ma said she wouldn’t be where she couldn’t have achieved her results without the help of coaches Richard Cagliarini, Anthony Hill, her practice partner Cameron Richardson and the clubs she plays for MCC, Squash Logic and Western Squash and Racquetball Centre, along with her sponsors.
The hard work doesn’t stop for Ma now with plenty more competition ahead of her.
“I’ve got a few state titles to chase around Australia in the next couple of months, also looking forward to playing more senior events and join PSA but other than that the next big tournament for me would be the Australian Junior Championships in September.
“I’m going to keep training and pushing hard these next 5 months for that title too.”
