TORONTO (May 11, 2021) – On Tuesday, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Table Tennis Canada nominated Jeremy Hazin (Richmond Hill, Ont.), Eugene Wang (Toronto, Ont.) and Mo Zhang (Richmond, B.C.) to represent Team Canada in table tennis at Tokyo 2020.
“It is with great pleasure and pride that our Board of Directors and our members congratulate Jeremy, Eugene and Mo for their performances and their successful qualification for the Olympic Games,” said Table Tennis Canada President Adham Sharara. “We have high hopes for the Olympic mixed doubles and singles events as Mo and Eugene proved to be a very cohesive pair technically and strategically and Jeremy is coming off tremendous success at a young age.”
This will be Zhang’s fourth Olympic Games. She has also competed at four Pan American Games where she has won six medals, including a gold medal in mixed doubles with Wang and bronze medals in the women’s doubles with Alicia Côté and in the team event at Lima 2019. She achieved a career-high world ranking of 19th in December 2018.
“I am super happy to have qualified in the mixed doubles and women’s singles events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” said Zhang. “We will do our best to represent Team Canada and give our 100% every match and make Canada proud!”
Wang made his Olympic debut at London 2012, just weeks after he received his Canadian citizenship. Wang had the opportunity to represent Canada once again in 2015, taking home two bronze medals from the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. He was Canada’s sole male representative in table tennis in his second Olympic appearance at Rio 2016 where he advanced to the third round of the men’s singles event.
In 2018, Wang represented Canada at the Commonwealth Games, advancing to the quarterfinals in singles before being knocked out by the eventual champion. He won two medals at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, claiming mixed doubles gold with Mo Zhang and taking a second straight bronze in men’s singles. Wang achieved a career-high of 55th in the ITTF World Ranking list in November 2016.
“We have prepared for this moment for a very long time knowing the importance of this event,” said Wang. “Our momentum started at Lima 2019 where Mo and I won gold. The Olympic Games are next and we will give it our best, match by match.”
Hazin will make his Olympic debut in Tokyo in the men’s singles tournament. Hazin was Canada’s youngest men’s singles national champion ever, when he won the title in 2017 at age 17. He also made history when he became the youngest Canadian player to ever compete at the senior ITTF world championships, doing so at age 13. Jeremy represented Team Canada at the Lima 2019 Pan Am Games where he advanced to the round of 16 in men’s singles.
Tokyo 2020 will be the first Olympic Games to ever feature a mixed doubles competition in table tennis.
Although Canada has never won an Olympic medal in table tennis, a notable moment came from Johnny Huang at Atlanta 1996 where he placed fifth in the men’s singles, losing in the quarterfinals.
At Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, Lijuan Geng advanced to the Round of 16 in women’s singles.
“The incredible skill of Eugene, Jeremy and Mo is mesmerizing. I’m looking forward to cheering on our veteran Olympians Eugene and Mo as they compete in the first-ever mixed doubles competition and our young talent Jeremy at his first Olympic Games,” said Tokyo 2020 Chef de Mission, Marnie McBean.
Table tennis will be held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium and will take place July 24 to August 6.
The athletes and coach nominated are:
Jeremy Hazin (Richmond Hill, Ont.) – Men’s Singles
Eugene Wang (Toronto, Ont.) – Mixed Doubles
Mo Zhang (Richmond, B.C.) – Women’s Singles, Mixed Doubles
Hongtao Chen (Richmond Hill, Ont.) – Head Coach
Prior to being named to Team Canada, all nominations are subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Team Selection Committee following its receipt of nominations by all National Sport Organizations.
The latest Team Canada Tokyo 2020 roster can be found here and the qualification tracker can be found here.
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Thorsten Gohl, Director, Marketing
Table Tennis Canada
T: (867) 373-2101
E: thor@ttcanada.ca
Josh Su, Specialist, Public Relations
Canadian Olympic Committee
C: 647-464-4060
E: jsu@olympic.ca