(By Barbara Wei / Photo by Bay Area Table Tennis Federation)
2018 Butterfly Canada Cup Finals: World Championships Selection

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, held March 10-11, is the final stop for Senior Canadian athletes to qualify for the 54^th World Team Table Tennis Championships in Halmstad Sweden in April of this year. For the Hopes players (U12 years old), the competition serves as qualification for the ITTF North America Hopes Challenge. For the players who have qualified into 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. 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. Many other players, including Canada’s best and brightest in each age category, will be on site to fight for spots on the Canadian World Championship team.

Competition begins on Saturday, March 10, with qualification round robins and concludes on March 11 with single elimination to the finals. The top finisher for the Men’s and Women’s competitions will receive $1500 CAD in prize money and the title of 2018 Canada Cup Finals Champion.

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.