The News
At 61, Ni Xia Lian became the oldest table tennis player to win a match at the Olympics after defeating her 31-year-old Turkish rival. On Wednesday she faces the top-ranked women’s single player, who at 23 wasn’t born when Ni made her Olympic debut for Luxembourg at the 2000 Games, The Washington Post wrote.
Ni, who left her native China because of “too much competition” in the sport, hasn’t advanced past the third round of the Olympics women’s singles event since 2008. She’s an inspiration to former national teammate, Chinese-Chilean Zeng Zhiying, who made her Olympic debut for Chile this year at the age of 58 after taking up table tennis again during the pandemic.