Games of la
Francophonie
Table Tennis: Off to a Good Start!
September 30th - Canadian table tennis athletes Mo Zhang and Peter-Paul Pradeeban qualified along with seven other teams yesterday to proceed to the second phase of competition. Yesterday morning, they defeated the Armenian team 3-0, winning their singles and doubles match.
"The Games of La Francophonie provide an excellent development opportunity for athletes of participating countries. They all have a chance to play against one another and to benefit from everyone's different style," said Marles Martins, head coach of our table tennis team. "That's the spirit of the Games of La Francophonie!"
When asked about what it takes to become a high-performance table tennis athlete, Junya Chen, coach of Team Canada at the Games, emphasized the importance of providing athletes with good training opportunities. "Technique is important. But we also have to create an environment that allows our athletes to face different opponents and gain experience."
Over the next few days, we'll be watching our two Canadians, who may just make the finals. Mo Zhang, 2009 Canadian champion, is one of the favourites in this competition. After her match against Armenia yesterday, she told us that these were her first Games of La Francophonie and that she really hoped to earn gold for Team Canada