SINGAPORE: Zhou Jingyi, a National Table Tennis player, secured her spot by joining teammates Izaac Quek and Zeng Jian at the 2024 Paris Olympics for the July 26th to August 11th showpiece event. Zhou, at 19, qualified for the Paris Games because of her Asian ranking and she is the youngest Singapore-born female table tennis player to do so, the Singapore Table Tennis Association said on June 12th, Wednesday.
The teenager, who only debuted two years ago at the 2022 Hanoi SEA Games, will also mark a historic milestone as the first Singapore-born female table tennis player to participate in the singles competition.
Zhou’s Efforts Pay Off
Zhou, the second Singapore-born female player to qualify for the Games after Tan Paey Fern in 2004 expressed: “Over the past year, we’ve traveled extensively around the world preparing for the Olympics. It was both physically and mentally exhausting, especially with an injury. However, I improved significantly thanks to the many competition opportunities.”
The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the team event is quite worried as this will be the biggest stage Zhou has played on.
Olympics: Her Goal Since Day One
Zhou said, “Qualifying for the Olympics is incredibly meaningful to me, as it has been my goal since day one. My mindset for the Olympics is to focus on each match and gain experience and exposure on this unique stage. I intend to approach my matches with the same mentality as any other competition and to perform to the best of my abilities.”
Izaac Quek and Zeng Jian will join her in Paris after winning their respective singles finals at the Southeast Asian Regional Qualification Tournament in Bangkok.