Photo courtesy of ITTF

William Henzell is Australia’s best hope for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. It has been a long journey for the Australian born in Adelaide, Australia on the 23rd March 1982.

Leaving Home

At the age of 14, William Henzell packed up his bags and left his family to move to Sweden with the aim of becoming a professional Table Tennis player. It was a difficult decision but one that he has not regretted. William took up the challenge and it paid off. He represented Australia in Junior and Youth teams before finally breaking into the senior national side in 2001. He currently lives and plays in Germany.

Australian Champion

William has won the Australian Closed Mens Singles Title 5 times, the first was in 2001 and he successfully defended his title in 2007 to be the current title holder. He has also won the Australian Open Mens Singles twice (2005 and 2007).

Oceania Champion

William has also won the Oceania Mens Singles Championship in 2004 and 2006, which meant he qualified to represent Oceania at the World Cup. He recently competed in the World Cup where he took a set of World Number 1 Wang Hao from China. This was an excellent match for William showing that his rise up the international ranks is continuing. He is currently ranked 145 in the world (October rankings).

Career Highlight

Henzell represented Australia at the 2004 Olympics in Athens making history by being the first Australian to win a match in both singles and doubles. However his career highlight was winning the silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in front of a home crowd in Melbourne, Australia.

Other Information about Henzell

Henzell enjoys photography, bushwalking and reading. He speaks Swedish and German in addition to his native English. His nickname is “The Wook”.

Watch Henzell in Action

Greg Letts has DVD’s for sale that include some great matches between William Henzell and Simon Gerada. They are definitely worth watching.