1. Zhiying Zeng had a long break and returned to table tennis as a competitor during the COVID-19 pandemic.
14 Facts About Zhiying Zeng
1. 2.
Zhiying Zeng's mother was a table tennis coach and Zeng was raised near a sports complex with access to professional players.
3.
Zhiying Zeng was trained by her mother until the age of 9, and then joined an elite sports academy at age 11.
4.
Zhiying Zeng is friends with her former Chinese team teammate Ni Xialian, a Shanghai-born Luxembourgish table tennis player, whom she reconnected with at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
5.
Zhiying Zeng first made the Chinese table tennis team at age 16.
6.
Zhiying Zeng's playing style was now more predictable and she fell out of the Chinese national team's ranks.
7.
In 1989, Zhiying Zeng took up an invitation to go to Chile and become a table tennis coach for schoolchildren in Arica.
8.
In 2003, Zhiying Zeng began playing again as part of an effort to encourage her son to take up the sport.
9.
Zhiying Zeng won national-level tournaments in 2004 and 2005, when she stopped once her son was old enough to travel to competitions on his own.
10.
Zhiying Zeng had a long break and returned to table tennis as a competitor during the COVID-19 pandemic.
11.
Zhiying Zeng first competed in regional tournaments in Iquique, before qualifying for the women's team for the 2023 South American Table Tennis Championships.
12.
Zhiying Zeng subsequently played at the 2023 Pan American Games, winning a bronze in the Women's team event alongside Daniela Ortega and Paulina Vega.
13.
Zhiying Zeng's performance, including a four-set comeback in the first round of the singles event, lead to her becoming a media sensation in Chile, with even Chilean president Gabriel Boric sending her congratulations on social media.
14.
In December 2024, Zhiying Zeng was included on the BBC's 100 Women list.