Zhang and Wang lock up Olympic table tennis berths

Canada will have two table tennis players at Rio 2016 after Mo Zhang and Eugene Wang secured their spots through the ITTF North American Olympic Qualification Tournament in Markham, Ontario this past weekend.

This will be the third straight Olympic appearance for Zhang, all in the women’s singles event. She earned this one by defeating teammates Alicia Cote (11-4, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7) and Anqi Luo (11-7, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8). Ranked 111th in the world, Zhang won gold at the 2011 Pan Am Games and finished fifth this past summer at Toronto 2015.

Mo Zhang at the Rio 2016 North American Olympic qualifier (Photo: Table Tennis Canada).

Mo Zhang at the Rio 2016 North American Olympic qualifier (Photo: Table Tennis Canada).

Wang is headed to his second Olympic Games after participating in just the team event at London 2012. He defeated American Feng Yijun (11-6, 11-4, 11-3, 11-6) in the semifinal and then teammate Pierre-Luc Theriault (11-6, 11-4, 11-3, 11-6) in the final to lock up his spot in the men’s singles event. Ranked 67th in the world, Wang won bronze at the 2015 Pan Am Games.

at the Rio 2016 North American Olympic qualifier (Photo: Table Tennis Canada).

at the Rio 2016 North American Olympic qualifier (Photo: Table Tennis Canada).

There were three spots available for athletes from North America in each of the singles events, with a maximum of two per country. The United States claimed two in each, meaning they will also get the continental spot in the team events.