"It's crazy to be able to experience this at this age," says Zeng, popularly known in Chile as 'Tia Tania', as she trains with the national mixed table tennis team in Santiago.

"At my age, you have to play with happiness, not anguish," she added.

It has been a long journey to reach this joyous moment. At nine years old, she began playing in China and by the time she was 11, Zeng was accepted to a junior elite team at a military sports school in Beijing. Chinese professional sports were then overseen by the People’s Liberation Army. After military supervision of sports ended in 1981, the school disbanded and Zeng returned to train under her mother.

By 1983, Zeng was selected for China’s national table tennis team and strived to represent the country on the biggest stage. But her ambitions were cut short by the introduction of the “two-colour rule” in 1986, which required players to use bi-colour paddles. This allowed players to identify which surface their opponents were using to predict the speed and spin of the ball. 

For Zeng, who had played with single-colour paddles since she was a child, the change was simply too much. 

"The rule killed my game," she told The Guardian. "I felt weak, psychologically and technically."

While Zeng did reach a third-place ranking nationally, she did not have the opportunity to play at the international level. She decided to travel to the other side of the world to teach table tennis. She arrived in the city of Arica, 2,000 km north of Santiago, where she taught for a short time. Zeng later became an importer of Chinese products and moved to the neighbouring city of Iquique —where she still lives— and completely distanced herself from the sport.

It wasn’t until the COVID pandemic that Zeng picked up a paddle again. Her confinement motivated her to return to the sport. She tried the bicycle and weights until she decided to return to an old acquaintance: table tennis.

In 2022 she began competing in local tournaments. She won all competitions and the following year she entered the national team and began to represent the country in international competitions. During the Pan American Games in Santiago 2023 she experienced her stellar moment. She became known and won the hearts of the public who baptised her as 'Tía', as veterans are called in Chile to show affection, Tania. At the women's team level, she managed to win a bronze.

"I’m feeling very loved. People are supporting me and calling my name. In the third set, I started to gain confidence because I finally thought that people were with me and I was playing nervously. It helped me a lot because I said the crowd is cheering and I’m not alone," said Zeng after her victory in the Pan American. 

Zeng's Olympic debut will be a historic moment for Chile, marking the country's first-ever representation in table tennis at the Games. In Paris, where she will be part of the handful of athletes who are over 50 years old, she hopes to go step by step and give her best. She dreams of a medal, but she understands that it is a difficult challenge.

"You dream, but you have to dream realistically. I'm going to give everything I have to win one, two or three games. And that will be winning a lot," she said.