October 3rd, 2009

MO ZHANG GOLDEN AT JEUX DE LA FRANCOPHONIE

Beirut, Lebanon – The Canadian table tennis team contributed three medals to Canada’s medal tally at the Jeux de la Francophonie – 2 GOLD and 1 SILVER. Mo Zhang bears the principal responsibility for the success.

Throughout the team event Mo dropped only 1 match – to France’s Audrey Mattenet. In the Singles she completed the competition without defeat.

On her way to the finals Mo faced youngster Christina Hirici, a member of Romania’s top 8 team at the 2008 World Team Championships in Guangzhou. But the Canadian showed no respect defeating the Romanian 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-3).

In the Finals Vietnam’s Hoang Mai could offer little resistance to Canada’s #1. Mo Zhang mastered the final hurdle to win the gold medal with a 3-1 (11-2, 4-11, 11-6, 11-4) victory.

In the Mixed Doubles competition the Canadians had to be content with Silver. A 3-1 win over Belgium earned Zhang/Peter-Paul a spot in the finals. However, in the battle for the gold medal the Romanian pair of Hirici/Cazacu proved too strong and defeated the Canadians by a score of 3-0.

The third medal – GOLD – had come earlier in the Games when Canada defeated Vietnam in the finals by a score of 2-1.