Zhiying Zeng was born in 1966 to a mother who coached desk tennis. She picked up a paddle as quickly as she may maintain it, joined a junior elite crew at a army sports activities college in Beijing at age 11, and turned professional at age 12.
And like most different younger athletes, she had aspirations to make the Video games: “It was the largest dream of my life,” she instructed CNN Sport. “Even after I was a bit woman and they’d ask me what my dream was, I might say: ‘Develop into an Olympian.’”
But it surely wasn’t till this summer time—after a 20-year hiatus from the game at one level and a transfer from China to Chile—that she lastly achieved that objective: Zeng made her Olympic debut in Paris at age 58, making her one of many oldest athletes at this 12 months’s Video games.
Though she misplaced to Mariana Sahakian of Lebanon 4-1 within the preliminary rounds on July 27, Zeng nonetheless has loads of causes to be proud. Her husband and two grownup sons had been there to cheer for her, based on Reuters. And her 92-year-old father in China lived to see his daughter’s lifelong dream come true.
“At my age, you must play with happiness, not anguish,” Zeng instructed The Guardian, including that she was proud to play for Chile, the place she goes by the title Tania. “I really like this nation. I didn’t attain my dream in China, and I’ve right here. It’s essential not to surrender.”
Based on CNN Sport, Zeng was coached by her mother till age 9. Earlier than she turned professional, she received the nationwide junior championship in addition to a number of regional tournaments. In 1983, when she was 16, she was known as as much as the Chinese language nationwide crew—a powerhouse within the sport.
Then, a rule change in 1986 threw her off her sport. Beforehand, the 2 faces of the paddle—which have completely different results on the spin, pace, and energy of the ball—could possibly be the identical shade. Zeng would typically rotate the paddle to throw her opponents off.
However the “two-color rule” specified that just one aspect of the paddle could possibly be black, eradicating her aggressive benefit. “The rule killed my sport,” she instructed The Guardian. “I felt weak, psychologically and technically.”
So 38 years in the past, she left the nationwide crew and retired. In 1989, she moved to Chile to teach kids. She began taking part in once more, briefly, in 2003 as a result of she thought her 13-year-old son was taking part in too many video video games and needed to introduce him to one thing extra energetic.
The technique labored—her son developed his personal ardour for desk tennis—and Zeng nonetheless had expertise, successful just a few tournaments. However she stopped once more when her son was sufficiently old to coach on his personal.
For the subsequent 20 years, she targeted primarily on working her furnishings retailer in Iquique, a city in northern Chile. It wasn’t till the COVID-19 pandemic put the nation on lockdown that she picked up a paddle once more. She purchased a desk simply to remain energetic and performed alone for hours a day.
