Two Centretown table tennis athletes struck gold in at the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
Xuebo Li, 17, and Jean Fei, 16, helped Team Ontario defend its title during the games, which ran from Feb. 13 to March 1 in Prince George, B.C.
Fei brought home two gold medals, one in double females, the other in team females, and placed fourth in female singles. Li won gold in team males, silver in doubles mixed and placed sixth in male singles.
Both athletes represent Centretown clubs.
Li trains with the National Training Centre, which is run by Table Tennis Canada. Fei is part of Geng Table Tennis Academy, which uses the same space to practice.
This was Fei’s first experience at the Canada Winter Games.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” says Fei, “I haven’t been to many national tournaments before but I was pretty happy with how I did.”
Fei is a hard worker and has come a long way after only starting in table tennis four years ago and the key to her success at the games was her unique style of play, says coach Horatio Pintea.
“She started off as an offensive player,” he says.
“Then just after the Ontario Winter Games two years ago she came back and was very disappointed with her performance. Then we thought about it and decided to change her style to make her a defensive player.”
Being a defensive player is more physical than an offensive style. It means staying further back from the table and moving around to retrieve balls and put them back into play as the opponent smashes or attacks.
“Its not a very common style so other players wouldn’t be used to playing against a defensive style, which would give (me) a bit an advantage,” says Fei.
Pintea is very proud of his player’s success at the Games.
“I think it’s exactly the boost she needed for her confidence and to make her into elite level player.”
Li also had a successful tournament. He is a member of the junior national table tennis team and has competed in a number of national and international tournaments.
However, he says these games have been the most memorable.
“Because there are multi-sports, every athlete from different sports is obligated to gain points. Thus, this competition is not only for individual profit, but also for the behalf of Team Ontario,” Li says.
Li is used to placing first at most tournaments and he was slightly disappointed with his performance, but he says the games taught him a lot.
“Every match I fight is for the team’s glory and I shouldn’t put too much confidence in my expectation, and give myself too much pressure.”
Li has been playing table tennis for 10 years but only moved to Canada in 2012. He was a provincial level player in China but says he found it difficult to move to a higher level there.
“After I moved to Canada, more opportunities are offered. I have played numerous national and in international tournaments, I gained lots of experience during those high-level tournaments,” he says.
After a successful tournament both young players are already looking to their next steps. Fei plans to focus on her school studies at Earl of March Secondary School in Kanata and continue to play competitively. Li is planning to attend the University of Toronto next year and then take a year off and travel to China and Europe for training as he one day hopes to qualify for the Olympics.