Zhang completed her graduation in psychology and returned to the Olympics in 2021.
US table tennis player Lily Ann Zhang regarded as the "Queen of American table tennis", reached the top 16 players in women's singles at the ongoing Paris Olympics. She is aged 28 and dreams about playing in front of her home crowd at the 2028 US Olympics. However, her parents, Linda Liu and Bob Zhang, immigrants from China, are not excited about her career and want her to have a "normal job," as per a report in The Wall Street Journal.
"We always try to convince her to stop playing," her mother said. "We just want her to have a normal job," she added.
Lina Liu added, "We are traditional Chinese parents. We always want her to focus on school. I always wanted her to get a job and be a regular girl."
Her situation represents the age-old conflict between parents and children about a regular 9 to 5 job versus an unconventional dream job. However, Ms Zhang believes her parents do have a point. According to her, an injury or a losing streak can take her whole career away. "There's so many things that can happen that can take away your stability in an instant," Ms Zhang told the WSJ. The athlete mentioned that she understands why her parents, who work in Silicon Valley, wanted her to quit playing. Ms Zhang said that they had a "hard life" in the US and were "trying to make it here and make the American dream come true."
Initially, her parents wanted their daughter to start playing table tennis to pass down their native country's national sport to her. The four-time Olympic medalist recalled how a ping-pong table also served as a dining table. Lily Zhang said, "It was also the dining table. We would just put a tablecloth over it and then eat."
By the age of 10, she spent summers in China, learning the sport. In 2012, she competed in the London Games at the age of 16. However, she lost the match. Speaking about her parents' reaction, Ms Zhang said, "They're like, OK, you got the Olympics, you got that on your college apps and now you can focus on studies."
Although she quit the sport after that, she felt something was missing from her life when she was studying at the University of California, Berkeley. Ms Zhang decided to take a gap year and practice for the next games. However, her mother refused. Ms Liu argued that her daughter had already participated in London and it was "enough."
Team USA coach Jun Gao said this outlook has ended the careers of many Asian Americans. "A lot of Asian parents- that's why you see so many talented players, no matter boys or girls, after they reach college, they say bye-bye," he added.
However, breaking the conventions of many Chinese American families, the tennis player said, "I play because it does make me happy, because it is one of the greatest passions in my life. I didn't want to look back 30, 40 years from now and regret not taking that chance."
With time, her parents helped her and prepared for the 2016 Rio Games, where she made it to the third round. Ms Zhang completed her graduation in psychology and returned to the Olympics in 2021. Now, she earns through tournaments and gets income from her sponsor.
However, all of this has not changed the opinion of Ms Zhang's parents. "Being a ping-pong athlete is not stable," her mother said.