The "We Used To Call It Ping-Pong! Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about a 58 year old table tennis player who will participate in the Olympics.  Tania Zeng was born in China and nationalized Chilean.  She trained at the National Olympic Training Center.  I told my wife I should have kept up my table tennis play from years ago.  My parents used to have a train table in our basement on North Queen Street during the Christmas season which they changed over to table tennis (ping-pong) during the rest of the year.  Used to play most of my friends and did quite well.  But, time doesn't stop and I eventually gave up my table tennis days.  Did keep up the train yard until I got married and my brother took over the trains.  Well, Tania, also known as Zeng Zhiying, debuted in the Olympics at the age of 58.  She became famous in Chile after winning a bronze medal at the Pan American Games in Santiago last year.  She had retired from table tennis long ago.  Though the sport brought her to Chile, she stopped playing to have more time to dedicate to a business she opened and eventually start a family.  Her dream of becoming a professional athlete returned during the pandemic.  Her pinnacle will be reached in Paris.  "I never imagined making it to the Olympic Games.  "I took it up for entertainment, to do some sport.  It was a big, gigantic dream," Tania said in an interview with the Associated Press at the country's Olympic training center.  "I gained confidence by playing a lot.  Since I always won, I liked playing more and more. Qualifying for an Olympics is a big, gigantic dream, and being able to fulfill it at that age is a huge happiness," said Zeng, the oldest athlete in her country's delegation.  Born in Foshan, China,  Zeng is the daughter of a local table tennis coach.  As a child, she used to follow her mother to professional table tennis training sessions.  For a decade, the Chinese-Chilean athlete was a high-performance player.  But her life took a turn in 1989, when she accepted an invitation to teach the sport to young athletes in Chile.  She married soon afterward and moved to Iquique, also in northern Chile, another city where Chinese presence was unlikely at the time.  Zeng is currently the 151st-ranked table tennis player.  She is part of Chile's national team, beating Dominican Eva Peña Brito in her debut in the women's singles table tennis tournament at the Pan American Games.  She lost to American LilyAnn Zhang in the following round, but still managed to win the bronze in the team competition.  Her life is now split between Iquique and Santiago, fueled by the appetite for the game and the affection of the fans.  "Everyone knows me, greets me, wants a photo, and for me it's just joy," she said.  "I am already Chilean in heart and soul, everything.  They are going to bury me here."  Zeng will play in Paris with more experience and the same determination to fulfill a lifelong dream.  She hopes no injuries affect her performance at the Olympics, which is a concern for any older athlete.  "Any bad movement I could get injured, and that worries me a lot," Zeng said.  Zeng's brother and 92-year-old father will be watching from China.  "When he found out that I had qualified, he jumped out of his chair, shouting....Go figure, a 92-year-old man," Zeng said.  "And he immediately told me: "it is your lifelong dream, which is now fulfilled.  Go at it, go with everything' "  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.