He has a cheeky wee smirk and a little boy’s playfulness but on the table he’s all business.
He’s North Shore’s August Xiao, who’s been one of the star performers at the New Zealand Table Tennis Championships at Stadium Southland in Invercargill.
August won both the under-13 and under-15 boys’ national singles titles, plus the mixed doubles in both categories. Winning the singles wasn’t necessarily a surprise. He was top seed for both events after all, but he was ruthless, dropping just three games during his double singles title run.
“I was really happy in that moment,’’ he said.
But did one of those title wins mean more than the other?
“Yeah, the under 15 one.
“Because in under 15s there were more people than the under 13s.’’
He’s right, with 66 entering the under-15 boys’ singles – and the biggest draw of any junior event – as opposed to 51 in the under-13s.
But the singles’ crowns are only part of the national championship story for the slick left-hander, who only turned 12 in August and whose first experience in the sport was on a friend’s table in a garage when he was eight.
August also led North Shore to the under-13 boys’ A grade teams’ championship, not dropping a match in the process, but then he showed why he’s really regarded as one of the future stars of the game in New Zealand by shining in the senior teams’ events.
He was a key performer in North Shore’s A grade men’s title win, his only losses coming against Canterbury’s experienced John Cordue and a thriller against New Zealand men’s star, Waitemata’s Alfred Dela Pena, who edged the youngster 12-10 in the fifth.
August, though, doesn’t let his success go to his head. No at all. He seems remarkably calm and mature, making it easy to forget he’s still so young and just a year 7 primary school student. He’s also a bit of a whizz at the Rubik’s Cube, enjoys the odd game of chess and was taking piano lessons until table tennis got more serious. He trains at the Tornado Cub from 4pm-6.30pm, seven days a week and listening to him explain what he enjoys most about playing is revealing and perhaps explains why he has an edge over nearly everyone he meets.
“The best part for me is game point and match point.
“And I don’t get nervous.’’
And why not?
“Maybe because my opponents are just more nervous than me,’’ he said, before that laughter and sparkle lights up a corner of Stadium Southland almost as much as he does when he’s playing.