Mariana Sahakian on her return against Chile's Zhiying Zeng during the 1st round of the women's table tennis tournament at the Paris 2024 Games at the Arena on July 27, 2024. (Credit: Jung Yeon-je/AFP)
This time, Maria Sahakian will see out the second day of the Olympic Games. Eight years after her defeat in the preliminary round in Rio, the Lebanese-Armenian won her first round match this Saturday in Paris against Chilean "Tania" Zhiying Zeng, the Chinese-born Chilean table tennis player making her Olympic debut at the age of 58.
After a late start, which saw her lose the first set 11-4, the 12-time Lebanese table tennis champion won the second set 14-12, before taking the upper hand in the next three (11-5, 11-3, 11-8) to claim victory.
The third Lebanese player to take part in the sport at the Olympics, after Larissa Cheaib in 1996 in Atlanta and Nivine Manjouglian in 2012 in London, the 46-year-old will have her work cut out this Sunday against American Lily Zheng, six-time U.S. champion and bronze medallist at the 2021 World Championships in Houston.