Nathan's Tokyo 2020 Olympic Dream

Hi everyone, my name is Nathan Xu, New Zealand Olympic Games 2020 Long List member for the table tennis event.

In the next six months, I will be required to travel extensively to compete and train against some of the world’s best in order to fulfill my dream of representing New Zealand at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Table Tennis. I was fortunate enough to get a taste of the Olympic dream at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires; motivating me even more to push towards 2020.

To meet the criteria, I will need to compete on the international stage regularly. Table Tennis is a minority sport in New Zealand with very little funding therefore the majority of the expenses are self-funded.

The main events in the next six months include

1.       World Junior Championships, Thailand (Dec 2019) Approx. cost – [$6,000]

2.       Oceania Olympic Team Qualification, Australia (Dec 2019) Approx. cost – [$2,000]

3.       Training in Taiwan and Korea, (December, January 2019/2020) Approx. cost – [$8,000)

4.       Oceania Olympic Individual Events Qualification, Australia (April 2020) Approx. cost – [$2,000]

If successful, I would be the youngest ever Kiwi to have qualified for the Olympic Games in table tennis.

Any contribution to help me chase my dream would be extremely appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read about my journey!