Paris Olympics 2024: Chinese paddler Zhiying Zeng excited to make Olympic debut at 58
Zhiying Zeng, who quit China's table tennis team in 1986, will be making a comeback to the sport at the Paris Olympics at the age of 58. She will represent Chile in the upcoming Games.
Zhiying Zeng began her Olympic dream in the 1970s, and it took her more than 40 years to make it a reality. Her introduction to table tennis happened at a very early age, as her mother was a coach of the sport.
At the age of 11, Zeng was selected for the junior elite team in a military school. At that time, Chinese professional sports came under the supervision of the People’s Liberation Army.
Once the supervision of the People’s Liberation Army ended in 1981, she came to train under her mother. In 1983, she was selected for China’s national table tennis team, but in 1986, her dream to play Olympics was cut short due to some unfortunate events.
The two-color rule, introduced in 1986, destroyed Zeng's game psychologically. She left the team and stayed away from the game until 2002 as a player.
“The rule killed my game. I felt weak, psychologically and technically,” she said in a recent interview with The Guardian.
It was in 2002 when her sons' video game inspired her to resume playing table tennis. It was during the Covid pandemic that her coach and friend Juan Lizama inspired her to fulfil her dream of being part of the Paris Olympics.
Zhiying Zeng will represent Chile in the Paris Olympics 2024
Zhiying Zeng will be part of the Olympics for the first time in her sporting career. She will represent Chile at the Games.
“I had no idea that was even possible,” she told The Guardian on being asked about playing for Chile in the upcoming Olympics.
Since 1989, Zeng has been living in Chile with her family and hence is well aware of the local language and culture. She is making her comeback to the sport after 20 years of absence as she last picked up the paddle in 2002 for local tournaments in Chile.
For these 20 years, she was busy with her business, and the beginning of the pandemic brought her close to the sport again. According to her current coach and friend, Juan Lizama, Zeng's style of play is defensive and responds to attack with different effects. She can be slashing the slow ball or even spin it to disguise direction.