Zhiying Zeng Will Make Olympic Debut at 58 : ‘Only a few days are left for the start of the ‘Mahakumbh’ of sports, Olympics. The Paris Olympics will officially begin from 26 July. Olympics is an event in which players from more than 200 countries participate. Just like the Olympics, the stories of the players participating in it are also very interesting. The story of every Olympic athlete is very different and interesting.

We are going to tell you about one such female athlete whose story of playing in the Olympics is full of struggle. This story is of China’s former table tennis player Zhiying Zeng, who will make her Olympic debut at the age of 58.

I took table tennis training from my mother

Zhiying Zeng’s Olympic dream began in 1970 when she represented China. Zhiying began training at a very young age as her mother was a table tennis coach. At the age of 11, Zhiying Zeng was selected for the junior elite team at the military school. By that time, Chinese professional sports had come under the supervision of the People’s Liberation Army. When the supervision of the People’s Liberation Army ended in 1991, Zhiying once again began training under her mother.

The Olympic dream was shattered because of the “two-color rule”

In 1983, Zhiying Zeng was selected in China’s national table tennis team. However, her game suffered due to the “two-color rule” introduced in 1986 and she left the national team. Due to this, her dream of playing in the Olympics was also shattered. She recently said about this rule, that rule completely ruined my game. I started feeling weak both technically and mentally.

In 1989, Zhiying Zeng accepted an offer to coach in Chile and settled there. However, in 2002, she decided to take up table tennis again to help her son get over his video game addiction and is now pursuing her Olympic dream. She will represent Chile in table tennis at the Paris Olympics 2024.