2024-07-27 00:44:38
Despite a break of more than three years in her sports career, Zhiying Zeng did not give up on her Olympic dream. At 58, the Chilean table tennis player of Chinese origin made it happen on Saturday at Arena 4 in Paris Sud. Image.
Published on: 07/27/2024 – 02:44
4 min
He ended his sports career in China 35 years ago. At 58, Chinese-Chilean table tennis player Zhiying Zeng took his first Olympic steps on Saturday July 27 during the Paris Olympics at Arena 4 in Paris Sud.
“It’s crazy to be able to experience this at this age,” Zhiying Zeng told AFP, during training with the mixed national table tennis team at the Olympic Training Center (OTC) in Santiago, in Chile.
Between jumps, screams and backhands sent with his racket, he even claims to “forget” his age. Francisco Seijas, who is the coach of the Chilean team who is a member said: “Many people can play table tennis at the same level as Tania’s age.
Unlike many of his opponents, the fifty-year-old embraces a defensive style of play, a technique he picked up during his childhood in China. Zhiying Zeng “is a fighting player, who must hit point by point and who shows great consistency”, continued Francisco Seijas.
“it’s mine”
Born in 1966 in Foshan, in the south of China, Zhiying Zeng was immersed in table tennis from a very young age, with a mother who was a coach. The girl started throwing a small white ball when she was nine years old. Four years later, he turned professional and finished third in the nation.
In 1989, at the age of 22, his life took an unexpected turn when he agreed to teach table tennis to young players in Chile. He lives in the city of Arica, 2,000 km north of Santiago, on the border with Peru.
Without speaking Spanish, he started learning table tennis, but quickly switched to another life. He married and moved to the nearby city of Iquique, started a company importing Chinese products, raised his two children and walked away from the sport altogether.
Thirty years have passed since the Covid-19 pandemic. The prison motivated him to start exercising. He tried cycling and weight training before turning to an old friend: table tennis. “That’s my thing,” he said to himself, knowing that he had not lost his technique, despite the years.
In 2022, he started participating in local tournaments. He won all the competitions and the next year, he joined the national team. During the Pan American Games in Santiago in 2023, in Chile, he won the bronze medal and experienced his hour of glory. It was at this time that she won the hearts of the Chileans who called her “Tía Tania” (Aunt Tania, in French). “Everyone knows me, greets me, wants a photo and for me, it’s just happiness,” he told the Associated Pressthat he feels “Chilean in heart and soul”.
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Make a dream come true
Tania Zhiying Zeng is now ranked 151st in the world in the speed of ping-pong, between Iquique and Santiago. “It’s a big change, before I only thought about work, my business and my home,” he said. and move
In Paris, where he is one of the rare athletes over 50, he hopes of a medal. “We have a dream, but we have to be realistic. I will give everything to win one, two, three games and it will be a great victory.”
He hopes not to suffer any injuries that could affect his Olympic career. He said: “One wrong move can hurt me, and that really hurts me.
On Saturday afternoon, not only will Chileans be glued to their televisions to follow what they now call their “Olympic grandmother”, but also the 92-year-old brother and father of Zhiying Zeng, who will followed by competition from China. . When he heard that I had qualified, he jumped out of his chair, shouting. “Immediately he told me: ‘This is the dream of your life, which has now come true. Go for it, give it your all.’
Includes AFP and AP
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