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2018 Butterfly Canada Cup Finals
March 10-11, 2018
PANAM Centre, Markham, ON
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Canada’s best table tennis athletes will come together at the 2018 Butterfly Canada Cup Finals in Markham, ON to determine key positions for the Senior and Hopes national teams.
The competition is the final stop for Senior Canadian athletes to qualify for the 54th Table Tennis World Team Championships in Halmstad Sweden in April of this year.
For the Hopes players (U12 years and younger), the competition serves as qualification for the ITTF North American Hopes Challenge. For the players who have qualified for the Canada Cup Finals, the high intensity competition will serve as a test of their mental and physical strength as well as prepare them for the upcoming future international competitions.
Leading the list of qualifiers for the Men’s Singles event is Jeremy Hazin, a lefty powerhouse with great touch from Ontario, Canada. He has quite the resume, including titles at both the national and international levels – most recently capturing gold and silver at the 2017 Serbian Junior Open in the doubles and teams events respectively. Hazin’s challenge will come from Marko Medjugorac and from Antoine Bernadet, both training and competing for club teams in Europe.
There is also the young guard - Terence Yeung, Alexander Bu, Edward Ly - who will be looking for upsets.
On the Women’s side, Siqian Wu (ON) returns to the Canada Cup as the defending champion, having won in straight games over Ivy Liao (BC) in 2017. With the top two female athletes - Mo Zhang and Alicia Coté - busy in international competitions, challengers are going to come from the likes of Ivy Liao, Justina Yeung and Laura Lai.
Many other players will be on site to fight to catch the eyes of the national team coaches and for spots on the Canadian World Championship team.
Competition begins on Saturday, March 10 at 9:00 with the qualification round robins; Quarter Final, Semi Finals and Finals will be played on Sunday, starting at 10:00. The Canada Cup Finals will pay out more than $5,000 in prize money.
Continual coverage of the 2018 Butterfly Canada Cup Finals and stories about the athletes will be available at ButterflyOnline.com or via Bowmar Sports' Twitter and Facebook pages, and on www.ttcan.ca.