Before she became disabled, Xiong was a table tennis prodigy. She represented her home province Heilongjiang in national competitions when she was 13. However, she was soon diagnosed with Garre's sclerosing osteomyelitis, and the pain forced her to retire in 1997, after the National Games. She got married and moved to Jiangmen, and did not play the sport seriously again until she was 37.[6]