Queensland’s top table tennis prospect Taleisha Gaeta in ‘top-10 shootout’ for Olympic team spot

Queensland’s top table tennis prospect Taleisha Gaeta, 15, will fight for her place on the Australian Olympic team this weekend when she takes on the nation’s best and brightest in Ballarat.

Taleisha Gaeta, 15, from Townsville will participate in the Paris Olympic trials occurring in Ballarat this weekend. Picture: Townsville Table Tennis Association.

Townsville’s top table tennis prospect Taleisha Gaeta will fight for her place on the Australian Olympic team this weekend when she takes on the nation’s best and brightest in Ballarat.

Southern Cross Catholic College student Gaeta is just 15 years old but has already propelled herself into the selection conversation following great performances at statewide and national competitions.

She will now be placed in a 10-player women’s pool which includes eight-time Olympian Jian Fang Lay and veteran Melissa Tapper, fighting for one or two remaining spots on the Australian team

Australia’s highest ranked eligible woman Min Hyung Jee is the only female player who has already pre-qualified for Paris.

President of the Townsville Table Tennis Association Brendan Gaeta, who is also Taleisha’s father, said preparations had been hampered by an injury sustained at the Queensland Junior Championships where she finished runner-up to Tiffany Lam in the under-17 girls.

Taleisha Gaeta from Australia warming up at the WTT Youth Contender Darwin 2023, Marrara Indoor Stadium, Darwin. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“She’s actually been out injured since the start of April. So she’s had about five weeks to try and recover from injury,” Gaeta revealed.

“So I’m certainly very nervous about it, but at the end of the day it’s pretty much a top-10 shootout so to speak.

“Initially there were going to be two pre-selected and one spot up for grabs, but they’ve pre-selected one so I imagine one or two spots will be up for grabs.”

Taleisha Gaeta, 15, from Townsville will participate in the Paris Olympic trials occurring in Ballarat this weekend. Picture: Townsville Table Tennis Association.

Gaeta will be the only Queenslander contesting the national trials, male or female, and her father said it would be a good chance to go head-to-head with the country’s best talent.

“The calibre of players is pretty high. Everyone’s going to lift, everyone’s been training hard for it,” Brendan Gaeta said.

“She’s still got a lot ahead of her, so we’re just trying to take the experience in this time and hopefully get some upsets and push our credentials in the Australian representative team.

“But anything’s possible, there’s not that big a gap between our top 10 women. It’s going to be a very tough competition this weekend.”

After three days of competition, the presentations and closing ceremony will be held late on Sunday afternoon.

Originally published as Queensland’s top table tennis prospect Taleisha Gaeta in ‘top-10 shootout’ for Olympic team spot