The Olympic participation of the 61-year-old Luxembourg table tennis player Ni Xialian ended today with a defeat by her Chinese sparring partner Sun Yingsha, BTA reported.
In the last week, the two trained together in Paris.
For Ni, a former world champion with China and a current competitor for Luxembourg, this was her sixth Olympics. She lost to Insha 0:4 (5:11, 1:11, 11:13, 4:11) in the second round of the women's singles tournament.
"I'm glad I had the opportunity to face Shasha - the world number 1. Meeting such a good competitor was definitely an eye-opener. Many shots that would have been points in other matches were not a problem for her," said the Chinese player, quoted by Reuters.
Ni, a double world champion since 1983 in individual and team, is the oldest competitor at the Paris Olympics. She moved to Luxembourg in the late 1980s.