At 17, table tennis player is a Commonwealth Games veteran

There aren’t a whole lot of 17-year-olds at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games who have already been to a Commonwealth Games.

In fact, there are only four of them – and one of them is Canadian table tennis player Anqi Luo. (A swimmer from Seychelles, a diver from England and a swimmer from Uganda are the others.)

Luo, of Mississauga, Ont., was the youngest athlete on Team Canada at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games. There, she placed 6/16 in the team event, 37/81 in singles, 17/32 in women’s doubles and 9/65 in mixed doubles.

A lot has changed in four years. More experienced and less star-struck by the Games this time around, Luo is aiming for a medal in Glasgow in the team event.

“My first time at the Games, I just loved walking around the Village, asking for the pins,” Luo said. “This time I feel like I’m more engaged in to the actual competition, starting from the first day here, focusing on the training.”

Table tennis team play begins on Thursday with Canada’s women’s team of Luo, Betty Guo (Edmonton, Alta.) and Mo Zhang (Vancouver, B.C.), taking on Jamaica at 9.30 and Malaysia at 16.00.

Canada’s men’s team of Andre Ho (Richmond, B.C.), Pierre-Luc Thériault (Rimouski, Que.) and Eugene Zhen Wang (Ottawa, Ont.) plays Tanzania at 12.50 and Scotland at 19.20.