Zhiying Zeng started her table tennis career in China but finished up fulfilling her achieve to play at the Olympics by representing Chile at the 2024 Games. A 92-year-old father of Zhiying Zeng stayed awake until 5am in China to observed his 58-year-old daughter qualify for the Paris Olympic -a hope he had seen since his daughter was a baby girl when he took her for table tennis training.
In 1966 Zhiying Zeng was born in Guangzhou, China, into a household that lived and breathed table tennis. Upto 9 years Zhiying Zeng coached by her mother who was a table tennis coach. She won many regional tournaments and becoming a Junior national Champion.
Zhiying Zeng at the age 16 was a part of the Chinese national team. However her goal of playing in Olympic could not be fulfilled after she issue a statement about early retirement from the sport due to a rule change that exposed her weaknesses.
Before Seoul Olympics 1988 the “two-colour-rule” imposed which meant that the two sides of the paddle could not be black anymore; they must had the different colours. This rule importantly challenged Zhiying Zeng, who would often rotate the paddle to confuse her fellow contestant. Different colours meant that she would not be that uncertain anymore.
She told to CNN “So many players in China have the dream to represent his/her country because it’s so hard to achieve. The change of rules also affected my game a lot”. She added “That’s when I had a big downturn and left the national team.”
But the stream changed rapidly for Zeng. In 1989, a school in Chile invited her to become a table tennis coach, that offer convert her life. After few years Zhiying Zeng started playing again and later she won two national-level tournaments in 2004 and 2005.However She has taken break to her journey again after her son started playing the sport. After 15 years when the COVID-19 pandemic was came in the world, Zeng started playing for exercise and keep herself healthy but soon she started sport all over again.
She notify CNN ” I got the bug and once we were able to leave, I immediately wanted to play against someone to see what level I was at-and see if I could I still run or not.”
With the support of the federation in lquique, Chile she started playing in regional tournaments where she resides. Then she qualified for the South American Table Tennis Championships 2023 at the age of 57 after encouragement from her family and friends. She become a Chilean sensation in Pan American Games 2023 in Santiago and chance to represent her country at the Paris Olympics 2024.
She told to CNN ” My dad was able to see her daughter qualify for the Olympics. He used to take me to training and to matches when I was a girl and now at 57, I made it. I made it.”
On last Saturday in the preliminary rounds of Paris Olympics she unfortunately lost against Lebanon’s Mariana Sahakian however her story has been one for the older ages. She added “But I don’t feel very sad, because this is sport. My husband, my sons, everyone I love and care about were there shouting my name. I feel so content,”.