Canada's Mo Zhang clinches 5th Olympic berth at table tennis tourney in Peru
35-year-old Vancouver native will be eyeing her 1st medal in Paris this summer
Mo Zhang of Vancouver is headed to her fifth Olympic table tennis tournament.
The 35-year-old defeated Eva Brito of the Dominican Republic four sets to none in the women's KO1 final of the ITTF Americas Qualification Event on Wednesday in Lima.
Zhang prevailed by scores of 11-3, 11-4, 11-5, 11-5.
She needed a top-four finish to qualify and clinched a spot in Paris with a 4-0 sweep of Colombia's Juliana Lozada in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Zhang also took down her opponent in four straight sets, 57-year-old Zeng Zhiying, who was born in China but has lived in Iquique, Chile since 1989.
Zeng was the oldest competitor at the Pan Am Games last fall in Santiago, 1,800 kilometres south of Iquique.
Zhang's top Olympic finish in singles is ninth from the Tokyo Summer Games in 2021.
She also placed ninth in Japan in her first taste of doubles play at the Olympics.
Zhang has appeared at four Pan Am Games and collected six medals, including 2019 gold in Peru.
