The Chinese table tennis player being cheered on by millions of fans at Pan American Games
- After leaving China for Chile in 1989, Zeng Zhiying supported herself by teaching local children table tennis and now plays for national team
- Ranked 147 in the world, 57-year-old earns celebrity status with defeat of Dominican Eva Peña Brito at regional event
Table tennis player Zeng Zhiying left China all alone for an adventure in Chile in 1989.
As her native country boiled with street protests that led to the Tiananmen Square crackdown that year, she remained in the South American nation, near the Atacama Desert, working to make the sport grow there.
About 34 years later, the 57-year-old Zeng, or Tania, as Chileans call her, is no longer by herself. She has a family and millions of fans cheering for her at the Pan American Games in Santiago.
Zeng became famous overnight in the Andean nation after she beat Dominican Eva Peña Brito 4-2 in her first match in the women’s singles tournament. She lost the first two sets but managed to turn things around in front of raucous fans screaming for her.
“I came to watch the table tennis grandma,” 14-year-old Chilean fan Gustavo Ibarra said before Zeng’s round of-16 clash with American Lily Ann Zhang on Tuesday. “Everyone in this country wants to see her win. She is just so humble.”
Chile’s President Gabriel Boric is another one of the table tennis player’s new fans watching her on television.