The story of Ni Xialian, the 59-year-old member of Luxembourg's national sports team and the (old) Olympic table tennis player in the Chengdu World Table Tennis Championships competition, has gone viral on Chinese social media.
Born in Shanghai in 1963, Ni Xialian (successful) won several championships as part of China's national table tennis team. She later moved to Germany and then (settle) down in Luxembourg in 1991.
"I retired from China's national team in 1986. Since table tennis was not listed as an event at the Olympic Games 1988, I missed the chance (fight) for our country," Ni said in an interview with Xinmin Evening.
Ni attended the Summer Olympics in Sydney a representative of Luxembourg in 2000, (kick) off her career as an Olympian at the age of 37. She then joined four more Olympic Games, including those in Beijing and London.
Ni said she believes she stands as a symbol on the field for Chinese everywhere. "I was born in China and received systematic training in Shanghai, developed my solid skills and capability of reading games. It's very important." Ni told The Migu Sports News in the Shanghai dialect. "I just feel (honor) to compete in the Olympics. Even though I don't represent Team China anymore, I think that may be more meaningful because we need the (communicate) between East and West."
