MANILA, April 9 -- Going from a student to a national table tennis player, 13-year-old Keith Cruz is slowly realizing her dream to become a top player, just like her idol Filipino Olympian and table tennis star Ian Lariba.

Cruz, a middle school student from Manila's Paco Citizen Academy Foundation who can barely speak Chinese, has a Chinese name: Ke Yingying, which means "shining" in Chinese. She was surprised when told about the meaning of her Chinese name.

Cruz may not be aware of it, but her performance as a table tennis player is living up to her Chinese name, thanks to her perseverance and extensive training in China.

In the Philippine table tennis national team qualifiers held in March, Cruz made it to the top-five, becoming the youngest female table tennis national player in the country's history. Because of her excellent performance, she was included in the team that will compete in the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, which will be held in the Philippines later in this year.

"It is a huge surprise, and I knew she will be in the national team one day," said Lin Wencheng, the headmaster of the Paco Citizen Academy Foundation.

Lin told Xinhua that Cruz's playing skills improved tremendously after her extensive training in China.

In November of last year, Cruz and four other Philippine table tennis players were invited to the Chinese National Table Tennis Training Base in Hebei Province for a month-long training. The base is known as "the cradle of the table tennis world champions."

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