For any Olympian, there's no shame in losing to the world's best player. There's even less shame when that player wasn't even born when you first competed at the Games.

But that's exactly the situation that 61-year-old table tennis player Ni Xialian found herself in in the women's singles in Paris. The Shanghai native, who represents her adopted country of Luxembourg, has been winning hearts as she proves that age is but a number... even when it comes to playing a sport at the very highest level.

Ni wrote herself into Olympic history as the oldest competitor to win a table tennis match when she beat Sibel Altinkaya of Turkey 4-2 in the round of 64 in the early hours of Sunday.

Ni, who won a mixed doubles world championship for China in her youth before moving to Europe, said she has already reached her goal of being able to compete at the Olympics for the sixth time.

"Every Olympics has its own difficulties, but every time is exciting and a wonderful experience. For the technique part of the game, it depends on the draw," she told RTHK in an exclusive interview.

"It's very important. If you have some difficult draw, it's difficult. But of course, my age, you cannot against the nature. Every year getting more difficult, that's a fact."

Ni's Olympic journey ended on Wednesday after she was beaten by world number one Sun Yingsha of China, who is 38 years younger than her. Sun was born just a couple of months after Ni's first Olympic campaign, in Sydney in 2000.

"I'm very happy to have this opportunity and not every day have such a chance, she's number one and people say I'm the only one, so I think it's a very happy, interesting game and we are showing Chinese table tennis [to] the world," she said.

"It's such a strong, different generation and different area, and I hope I can offer a wonderful game."

Though Ni has completed her Olympic journey - at least until 2028 - she has won the hearts of many fans for her youthful spirit, becoming a social media hit after her inspiring performance at the Paris Games.

Some people expressed their respect for her performance, while many others commented on the athlete's cuteness when she deployed spin to return her opponent’s shots.