Chinese-Chilean table tennis player makes Olympic debut at 58 at Paris Games
Santiago, Chile — Table tennis player Zeng Zhiying left China in 1989, the same year of the Tiananmen Square massacre, to teach the sport in northern Chile. Thirty-five years later, she will make her Olympic debut at age 58 under the name she adopted in the South American nation: Tania.
Tania Zeng, who became famous in Chile after winning a bronze medal in the Pan American Games in Santiago Last year, she retired from table tennis for a long time. Although the sport brought her to Chile, she stopped playing to have more time to dedicate to the business she opened and eventually start a family. Her dream of becoming a professional athlete returned during the pandemic. Its peak will be reached in Paris.
“I never imagined (going to the Olympics) because I got into it for fun, for sports,” Zeng said in an interview with The Associated Press at the country’s Olympic training center. “I gained confidence by playing a lot. As I kept winning, I enjoyed playing more and more.”
“Qualifying for the Olympics is a huge dream, and being able to achieve it at this age is a huge happiness,” said Zeng, the oldest athlete in her country’s delegation.
Born in Foshan, southern China, Zeng is the daughter of a local table tennis coach. As a child, she would follow her mother to professional table tennis training. For a decade, the Chinese-Chilean athlete was a top player.
But her life took a turn in 1989, when she agreed to teach the sport to young athletes in Arica, in the far north of Chile. She married shortly after and moved to Iquique, also in northern Chile, another city where the Chinese presence was then unlikely.
Zeng is currently ranked 151st in table tennis. She is part of the Chilean national team, where she defeated Dominican Eva Peña Brito in her debut in the women’s singles table tennis tournament at the Pan American Games. She lost to American Lily Ann Zhang in the next round, but still managed to win the bronze medal in the team competition.
Zeng’s life is now divided between Iquique and Santiago, fueled by the appetite for the game and the affection of the fans.
“Everyone knows me, greets me, wants a photo and for me it’s just joy,” she says. “I’m already Chilean in soul and heart, everything. They’re going to bury me here.”
Zeng will play in Paris with more experience and the same determination to achieve her lifelong dream. She hopes no injuries will affect her performance at the Olympics, which is a concern for any older athlete.
“Any wrong move could cause me to get hurt, and that worries me a lot,” Zeng said.
On Saturday, Chileans won’t be the only ones watching on television to follow the woman they now call their “Olympic grandmother.” Zeng’s brother and 92-year-old father will also be watching from China.
“When he heard I qualified, he jumped out of his chair and shouted. … Imagine, a 92-year-old man,” Zeng said. “And he immediately told me, ‘This is a lifelong dream, which has now come true. Go for it.’”
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