At the recent World Team Table Tennis Championships, Zhang won all of her matches - in Division 2. 11-0 was her record, keeping the Canadian team comfortably in Division 2.
While Halmstad may not have been her greatest challenge, Mo Zhang showed her ambition at the 2017 Uncle Pop Women’s World Cup where she challenged WR#1 Zhu Yuling (CHN) to a to a duel which the Chinese star eventually decided in her favour, but the spectators could see that the distance was getting closer.
The turn around for Mo Zhang came when she joined Froschberg Linz, the Austrian powerhouse of women’s table tennis. She joined the club ranked 113 and is now ranked 21. Good coaching, good training partners and the geographical proximity to high level competition allowed the Canadian to develop her talent and to join the ranks of the best women table tennis players world wide
“I want more for 2020,” Mo Zhang says, “I want to see how far I can go.”
To find out, the Canadian will join an elite training group near Copenhagen, Denmark, with top notch coaching staff and training partners.
Alicia Coté, Canada’s #2 - also at Froschberg Linz - has seen a similar improvement during the last 2 years. The 19-year old from Drummondville, QC joined the Froschberg club in 2016 - ranked 498 - and has climbed to the 211th spot in a short period of two years.
Mo Zhang (CAN) - photo courtesy of ITTF