woman in red shirt against a white background

Pan Am hopeful keeps her eye on the ball

Blake Eligh

When table tennis phenom Anqi Luo takes her place at the table this week, the incoming U of T Mississauga student will be one to watch. Considered the best Canadian table tennis player in her age group, Luo will represent Canada at the Pan Am Games, competing in doubles and singles events as part of Canada’s six-member table tennis team.

Although she is just 18 years old, this won’t be Luo’s first time at the Games. The Streetsville resident, who will start her first year as a commerce student at U of T Mississauga this fall, was the youngest member of the Canadian team in the 2011 Pan Am Games in Mexico, and was the youngest-ever competitor from any country at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. She has chalked up major experience in international competition over the past decade, making it to the playoff rounds in the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, and winning a bronze with doubles partner Mo Zhang at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Luo was born in China, and moved to Canada when she was eight years old. It was in the basement of her family home in Mississauga that she started to play table tennis, learning from two top players—her parents. Both of Luo's parents were top professional players in China, and are now coaches at the club where Luo trains, Mississauga’s Elite Table Tennis Training Centre. Luo’s mother, Junya Chen, is head coach of the Canadian Women’s National Team, making Chen her daughter’s coach.

To prepare for the Toronto games, Luo spent June at a training camp in China where she worked intensively with her new doubles partner, Quebec’s Alicia Côté. The team played for six hours every day, along with weights, running and flexibility training. Back in Canada, she continued training sessions, playing for four hours daily.

At the table, Luo grasps her wooden paddle (known in official play as a racket) in a shake hands-style grip (“It’s better for backhand,” she says) and skiffs it across the top of the celluloid ball. Using one of a number of offensive strokes—a hit, a smash or a flick—Luo sends the ball over the net, putting a spin on the ball to limit her opponent’s options to return the shot.

Luo loves the precision of the sport. “The ball is small and each set requires a lot of control,” she says. “You have to think about the placement, speed and spin of the ball.” A good spin will cause the ball to bounce at an unexpected angle when it hits the table. There isn’t time for error—the pace of a game at Luo’s level is lighting-quick.

“The games are very short—just half an hour to 45 minutes long—so it’s important to be able to quickly assess and adjust to my opponent’s style,” Luo says. She anticipates her most serious Pan Am competition will come from the Brazilian and American teams. “I have met most of the players at other international competitions." Knowing their playing styles will be an advantage, but she says she’ll have to learn fast about the strengths of the newer members of the opposing teams.

Her talent and training have taken her far, but Luo also admits to a little pre-game superstition—the colour of shirt in which she wins her first match becomes her lucky colour for the rest of the tournament.

While her physical training is intense, Luo’s mental preparation is more laid back. “I don’t think about the game too much," she says. “The best way is to relax, and play the game as you should.”

Now a senior player, Luo plans to scale back on international competitions to stay focused on schoolwork as she enters her first year at UTM. “Junior competition was an equal mix of fun and competitive tournaments,” she says, but the pressure increases at the senior level where many opponents are professional players. Luo will keep her eye on the ball, however—she hopes to compete with the Canadian Olympic team in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Luo and the six-member Canadian table tennis team compete from July 19 to 25 at the Markham Pam Am Centre.

Watch a young Anqi Luo in the short documentary, "On The Ball."

See Anqi Luo in "Canada's Pan Am Hopefuls":