Zhiying Zeng Age, Husband, Children, Family, Biography

Quick Info→

Marital Status: Married

Husband: Arturo Aravena

Age: 58 Years

Bio/Wiki
Full Name	Zhiying "Tania" Zeng
Nickname(s)	• Tia Tania • Table tennis grandma
Profession(s)	• Table Tennis player • Businesswoman
Physical Stats
Height (approx.)	5' 5" (165 cm)
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Table Tennis
Medals	Silver • 2023: South American Senior Championship, Lima (Individual) Bronze • 2023: Pan American Games, Santiago (Women's Team)
Honours	Special Distinction for her performance in the Pan American Games (2023)
Personal Life
Date of Birth	17 July 1966 (Sunday)
Age (as of 2024)	58 Years
Birthplace	Guangzhou, China
Zodiac sign	Cancer
Nationality	Chinese (former), Chilean (current)
Food Habit	Non-vegetarian
Social Media	Instagram
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Family
Husband/Spouse	Arturo Aravena
Children	Son(s)- 2 • Felipe Aravena • Wang Zhixin
Parents	Father- Engineer Mother- Table Tennis Coach
Siblings	Brother- 1
Favourites
TV Show	Chilean - Juego de ilusiones (2023)
Food	Empanada, Pantruca, Beans, Sopaipilla

Some Lesser Known Facts About Zhiying Zeng

She grew up near a sports complex in China, where she had access to professional players.

In 1986, the introduction of a new rule requiring table tennis rackets to have two different colours impacted her gameplay. She used to switch to different sides of the racket for different shots and confuse her opponents, but with the new rules, she became predictable.

She was soon dropped out of the Chinese team because of her poor performance, which resulted in her quitting table tennis at the age of 20.

She got the opportunity to play for Chile in 1996, but she turned it down as she didn’t want to play for another country.

In 2003, she started to play table tennis again to encourage her son to take up the sport instead of playing video games.

She won national-level tournaments in 2004 and 2005. Her victories encouraged her son to take up the sport.

Soon, she quit the sport again after her son became old enough to go to training on his own with his coach.

She picked the sport again in 2022 as a mode of exercise as, according to her, all she did during the COVID-19 lockdown was rest and eat.

After she started to play again, she contacted the table tennis federation at Iquique and started playing table tennis at the regional level.

Her confidence arose after she began defeating males in table tennis tournaments

Initially, after getting selected for the 2023 South American Table Tennis Championships, she doubted if she would be able to perform well. She entered the championship after her friend motivated her to participate.

In an interview, she stated that when she started playing again after the lockdown, she found inspiration in fellow table tennis player, Ni Xialian, who was 60 years old at the time.

In 2023, she became an overnight sensation in Chile after she defeated Eva Pena Brito of the Dominican Republic by 4-2 at the Pan American Games women’s singles tournament. The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, congratulated her on his social media account.

In May 2024, she participated in the ITTF Americas Qualification Tournament in Lima, Peru, which helped her qualify for the Olympics.

After qualifying for the Olympics, she talked about her happiness in an interview as her father, who was 92 years old, and her brother watched her qualify and said,

My dad was able to see his daughter qualify for the Olympics. He used to take me to training and to matches when I was a girl and now at 57, I made it. I made it.”

Zhiying Zeng with the Qualification ticket for the Summer Olympics 2024
She made her Olympic debut in the 2024 Summer Olympics and instantly became viral on social media due to her age. She lost in the preliminary round by 4-1 against the 46-year-old Lebanese player, Mariana Sahakian.
Zhiying Zeng playing at the Olympics