57-year-old Chinese-Chilean table tennis player wins over crowd at Pan American Games

SANTIAGO, Chile: 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 massacre that year, she remained in the north of 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 by 4 sets to 2 in her first match in the women’s singles tournament. She lost the first two sets, but she managed to turn the match around in front of raucous fans screaming for her.

“I came to watch the table tennis grandma,” said Chilean fan Gustavo Ibarra, 14, before Zeng’s round-of-16 clash with American Lily Ann Zhang on Tuesday (Oct 31). “Everyone in this country wants to see her win. She is just so humble.” Zeng has two children, but no grandchildren.

Chile’s President Gabriel Boric is another one of the table tennis player’s new fans watching her on TV.

“Tremendous!,” Boric wrote on his social media channels after the Chinese-Chilean’s victory on Monday.

Zeng has lived most of her life in Iquique, a city near the Atacama desert 1,800km north of Santiago, Chile’s capital. After teaching the sport to local children for years, she started a business and made it her main source of income until recently.

Playing table tennis as a professional only crossed her mind during the COVID-19 pandemic. She quickly made it to Chile’s national team and now hopes to be part of it for the Paris Olympics next year. Zeng is currently