SANTA CRUZ — The first two games of the five-set match — typical parameters in competitive table tennis — went well for Cynthia Ranii. She was older, stronger, more experienced and it showed.

As she often does when she’s eager for a challenge, Ranii traveled over the hill from her home on the Westside of Santa Cruz for a match at a club in Santa Clara. At 78 years old, Ranii was used to competing against younger opponents, but this one was especially boyish; no older than 12 by her estimation. If she leaned on him a little harder, she thought she could leave with a clean sweep.

But after dropping the first two sets, the boy began to listen to advice from his parents, who had coached him throughout the match. His spin became sharper, forcing the ball to jump off the sides of the table much closer to the net where it was out of Ranii’s reach. His lobs were high and deep over her shoulders, making it hard for Ranii to turn fast enough to swat them back. She began to fall behind.

Ranii is paralyzed from the chest down and was playing from a seated position, using a wheelchair. She was well aware of the vulnerabilities in her game and though she tried to adjust and put her able-bodied opponent back on his heels, her grip on the match loosened. The boy took the next three consecutive games and the match was over.

“That’s a hard kind of thing to take,” Ranii admitted in an interview with the Sentinel a day later. She paused, the points still replaying in her head. But she wasn’t bitter. Just the opposite; it’s what she expects from a worthy opponent.

“It’s just the reality. He beat me mainly because he took advantage of my being in a chair, which is exactly what he should have done, if he wanted to win,” she said. “He did exactly the right thing.”

Ranii has never been one to let disappointment or frustration get the best of her, even after a rare neuro-immunologic disorder left her paralyzed from the chest down 20 years ago. It’s part of what has made her a lifelong standout athlete and now, an elite table tennis player.

Cynthia Ranii maintains focus as she prepares for upcoming competitions. (Shmuel Thaler/Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Plus, spending too much time with negative emotions after a loss is an unhelpful distraction from the goal she has been working toward for years as a competitive athlete: becoming a medalist at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics and likely the oldest one in Paralympic or Olympic history.

Since she started on the competitive circuit more than a decade ago, Ranii has transformed herself into a top-ranked table tennis champion. She has medalled at several national and international tournaments and currently ranks No. 2 in her class of women Paralympic table tennis players nationwide. At the international level, which is key for Paralympic hopefuls, Ranii has soared as high as No. 23, but she has recently dropped to No. 45 after undergoing a major surgery that set her back.

To qualify for the games, she likely has to break through to the top 16 internationally, and to do that, she needs to play and win. A lot.

“I’m thinking this could be my shot, if I really dedicate myself,” Ranii said with a sober tone, but a light energy about her. “I think I should do everything possible to have my best chance to make it. And if I don’t, I don’t.”

Always an athlete

A Fullerton native, Ranii and her five siblings grew up in a sports-focused family. If it got your heart pumping and included some kind of scorekeeping system, chances were Ranii played it, and probably quite well. Throughout her youth it was tennis, bowling, golf, basketball and more, all the way to UC Berkeley where an interest in religion and spirituality inspired her to major in Near Eastern studies. She eventually achieved a master’s in Asian studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sports satisfied her competitive nature, but her professional interests eventually coalesced around education, causing Ranii to travel back to California for a doctorate in education from the University of Southern California. It was the beginning of a long and successful career that culminated with Ranii becoming superintendent of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District in 1997.

In 2005, at 58 years old, steady in her job and with a large and loving family, Ranii and her partner Shelly James sojourned to Scotland to attend their daughter’s wedding and, when they had time, tee‘d off at some of the country’s world-famous fairways.

But shortly after returning home, Ranii began to have intense pain in her lower back and some limpness in her foot. With doctors unable to diagnose her condition, Ranii was eventually hospitalized as her symptoms worsened. Then, sitting in bed one night, she began some stretching exercises she’d been assigned.

“I went to do those stretches and I couldn’t move my legs,” Ranii recalled.

Medals accumulated by Cynthia Ranii tell the story of athletic excellence and inspiring Paralympic ambitions. (Shmuel Thaler/Santa Cruz Sentinel)

During the next few hours, the numbness continued to progress up to her chest, where it ultimately stopped, although she continued to suffer from intense pain due to spinal shock. Ranii had gone from rounds of golf in Scotland to paralysis that covered most of her body within about four days.

She was eventually diagnosed with transverse myelitis, a rare neurological disorder that causes inflammation along the spinal cord and from which most patients experience at least some degree of recovery, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Ranii was given no such reprieve.

“I had to quickly learn to be a much more patient person and a person who had to become at ease with modification,” said Ranii. “It made me slow down and be more accepting of how things are.”

Second act

After six months of intense physical therapy, Ranii returned to work and continued with her career in education for another year before retiring after about a decade as superintendent.

During that period of personal upheaval and boundless change, Ranii returned to her life’s constant: athletics. She found much early success in wheelchair tennis, where she quickly achieved a national ranking. But the physical demands of the game were nonstop and she was competing against individuals sometimes several decades her junior.

Instead, she exchanged her racket for a paddle and took up table tennis, a decision she knew was the right one after entering her first tournament in 2013; though she recognized there’d be a learning curve.

“I lost all my matches,” she said, “but I had that feeling: I think I could be good at this.”

Ranii now trains at least six days per week, including practice matches, personal training exercises and hours of backhand and forehand practice with help from a robot that feeds her endless shots with spin and pace.

She plays at her home or at the London Nelson Community Center in Santa Cruz, but also regularly travels to Alameda County for games where she most often competes against standing opponents.

Rachael Worby, described by Ranii as one of her biggest supporters, met Ranii and her wife while they were living in Pasadena about 15 years ago. They became almost instantly inseparable.

“The luscious heart and soul that lives inside this women is singular,” said Worby. “I’ve never known anybody like her in my life.”

But Worby, an accomplished orchestral conductor and nonprofit leader, added that Ranii’s opponents would be wise not to let her mild manner and soft gaze lull them into complacency. She’s a tactful player and unafraid to use her smarts to snatch a victory.

“She’s ferociously competitive,” said Worby. “Never let that calm, spiritual exterior belie what lies beneath.”

‘She just goes all in’

Ranii’s commitment to the sport has also attracted attention from local mentors, some with the Paralympic experience she now strives for. Ranii happened to live just down the street from Sebastian DeFrancesco, a well-known adaptive sports champion who played table tennis using a paddle that was tied to his hand with a leather strap and an elastic bandage.

Sebastian DeFrancesco, a quadriplegic who also competed using a wheelchair, was a five-time Paralympic table tennis medalist and U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame inductee, among many other honors. Recognizing her as a talented athlete and kindred spirit, Sebastian DeFrancesco trained and competed with Ranii for years and encouraged her to take her game to the next level.

Cynthia Ranii, left, competing alongside her friend and mentor Sebastian DeFrancesco at a table tennis match around 2017. (Contributed/Liz DeFrancesco)

Since his death in 2023, Sebastian DeFrancesco’s wife, Liz DeFrancesco, has remained close with Ranii and still plays with her on a regular basis. She said Ranii has many traits in common with her late husband, but all revolve around a competitive spirit and hard work.

“Once she dedicates herself to something, she just goes all in,” said Liz DeFrancesco. “That was Sebastian as well, he was the most fiercely competitive person.”

Should she break through to the top 16 and secure an invite to the 2028 Paralympics, Ranii would be 81 years old by the time she goes to toss her first serve.

The Sentinel reached out to the International Paralympic Committee to confirm who the oldest Paralympic medalist in history was, but did not receive a comment back before print deadline. According to a story last year from GQ magazine, Argentinian sailor Santiago Lange became the oldest athlete to win a medal at the Olympics in 100 years when he took home the gold in Brazil in 2016 at age 54.

Sport Australia Hall of Fame has written that its own Libby Kosmala became the oldest Paralympic participant at 74 when she competed in the air rifle event in 2016.

But as weeks and months tick by, Ranii must quickly accumulate as many points as she can primarily through international tournament wins. And travel isn’t cheap.

To support to Ranii’s Paralympic ambitions, Shared Adventures, a local nonprofit serving many from the disabled community, has launched a fundraising campaign aimed at helping cover Ranii’s travel and training bills. Contributions can be made online at sharedadventures.org.

“I’m really stoked that she’s pursuing her dream,” Shared Adventures founder and President Foster Andersen told the Sentinel. “That’s what life is all about — doing what you want to do and pursuing that dream.”

Ranii will compete in two international tournaments in October alone, both in São Paulo, Brazil. And while recent tournaments haven’t produced the kind of results she’s hoped for, she knows her game and is ready to make a splash.

“I’m not a contender in the eyes of many,” said Ranii, with a laugh. “I’m a contender in my own eyes.”