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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/10/i-play-with-happiness-the-table-tennis-star-making-her-olympic-debut-at-58>
"Zhiying Zeng isn’t fussed about travelling to Portugal’s world-class table
tennis training facility, the Mirandela Center, to prepare for Paris alongside
her Olympic cohorts. “I’d prefer to train here,” she says, gesturing to her
surroundings in a Santiago de Chile sports complex. The table tennis hall is in
the basement, and subject to tremors from the team sports thundering around
above.
Zeng trains here Monday to Friday, three hours a day. She would like to do more
but she has an excuse as she contemplates her Olympic debut: she will turn 58
just before the Games start in Paris later this month. “When you’re young,
nothing hurts,” she says with a smile. “Now, if I play too much I get shoulder
ache.”
Zeng’s reluctance to train in Portugal comes from a love of her home for 35
years, Chile, where she can stay close to her husband and sons. Her Spanish is
peppered with local slang, and she frequently jokes with the Chilean
self-deprecating sense of humour.
Her Olympic dream began when she was on a professional youth team in 1970s
China. It wasn’t until this May that she achieved her goal by winning a series
of tournaments and finishing in the top eight in the Americas region, securing
her spot in Paris.
It’s a turn of events that even Zeng couldn’t have predicted. She retired from
professional table tennis in 1986, when she was 20, and she now owns a
furniture company in her home in Iquique in northern Chile.
The Covid-19 pandemic provided an unexpected path back into table tennis. To
quell her restlessness during Chile’s strict lockdown, she bought a table
tennis table and played alone at home for hours every day. When lockdown
lifted, she entered some local tournaments for fun, effortlessly winning all of
them. By 2023, she was the highest-ranked women’s player in the country and
qualified for a spot on Chile’s national team.
“No one could believe it – ‘What are we going to do this with señora?’” she
jokes."
Via
Positive.News
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*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
