At 20:30 p.m. Beijing time on July 30, the mixed doubles final of the table tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be staged, against China's top seeds Sun Yingsha/Wang Chuqin and North Korea's dark horse Lee Jung-hee/Kim Qinying. Before the match, Luxembourg table tennis veteran Ni Xialian revealed on social media that she acted as a sparring partner for Sun Yingsha/Wang Chuqin.
61-year-old Aunt Ni Xialian happily announced in the video: Today I am going to do sparring for Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin! Because North Korea's partners rarely come out to play when Ni was young, people don't know about them. So far, they are really a big threat, and that girl (Kim Qinying) is playing the same way as me, and I feel that I have a responsibility to help the Chinese team.
Ni Xialian continued: Today I have the opportunity to be a sparring partner for Sasha and Datou, and I am honored to help them. The Chinese team made this request to me, and they also had concerns, and I understood it, because I had to play a single event with Sasha (Ni Xialian was about to face Sun Yingsha in the second round of table tennis women's singles), but I really didn't hesitate at all, without the motherland's cultivation of me, what am I? I am very happy to have such an opportunity to repay the motherland, repay the Chinese team, and remove a little obstacle for them on the way to winning the championship. I wish Sasha and Chuchin to overcome all difficulties and win the championship!
Ni Xialian's move has attracted praise from countless netizens, and everyone has praised the older generation's feelings of home and country, although naturalized in Luxembourg, there will always be a Chinese heart. Ni Xialian was born on July 4, 1963 in Shanghai, China, and was selected for the Chinese table tennis team, participated in the 1983 World Table Tennis Championships, and won the mixed doubles and women's team championships. In 1986, Ni Xialian retired.
Since 1991, Ni has represented Luxembourg in international competitions. In 2000, Ni Xialian finally fulfilled her Olympic dream. In 2002, the 39-year-old Ni Xialian won the women's singles championship at the European Championships. In 2016, Ni Xialian became the flag bearer of the Luxembourg team for the Rio Olympics. In the first round of the women's singles table tennis at this Olympic Games, the 61-year-old Ni Xialian eliminated Turkey's Altenkaya 4-2.