Tokyo: Even the destructive war that destroyed his home city could stop the 12-year-old Syrian table tennis player Hendza from chasing and realizing his Olympic dream.
Be prepared to represent his war-hit by his war as the youngest Olympics in the Tokyo match, Zaza hopes he can bring a few smiles back on his lips at home.
“I want to make Syrian people happy, not just me, but all the sports we have.
We will tell them that we are ready for this and that we love them very much,” Zaza said from the city of Syrian pests.
Zaza said it was table tennis that provided escape from all the suffering and pain of war and also gave him the power to face life challenges.
“Tennis table gave me everything and taught me to be a strong human being, who was confident.
It gave me patience,” Zaza said, who was the bearer of the Syrian flag at the opening ceremony on Friday.
Zaza, who started playing in 2014 and now the train in Damascus, will be 12 years old and 204 days when he opened his son’s single campaign on Saturday against Liu Jia Liu Jia 39 years old, his opponent was more than three times his age.
“We challenge all conditions.
We can control this.
After we go and play, we forget everything and just think about playing.” We practice so we can challenge the whole world and we face challenges.
“Zaza could make his Olympic debut at 11 having a Pandemic Covid-19 did not postpone the match a year.
He will now be the youngest Olympian since 1992, when Carlos 11 next year Spain competed at the paddle and 12 years – recording Judit Kiss Hungarian in the pool.
Zaza, however, said the delay really helped him to work on his skills.
“Due to delays, I trained more and participated in training camps, more.
My performance improved.
“Only the second Syrian table tennis players who competed at the Olympics after Heba Allejji, Zaza said he harbored this dream for the past five years.
Alljji has claimed his place in Rio Olympics through a tripartite system.
This time, Zaza gets his right to be in the match by winning the tournament West Asian Olympic qualifications in Jordan in February last year.
“Since 2016, I have a qualifying dream for the Tokyo Olympics and I train hard.” Zaza Idolise Rio Gold Olympics Gold Medalion Ding Ning of China But the journey has become difficult because the training is often disturbed By power outages or lack of equipment or quality training partners.
But he is not affected and remained determined to pursue his dream.
“Now, I started the first step at the Olympics,” he said.
” I will not stop playing.
Table tennis is my life.
I spent all the time I played it, besides table tennis I studied.
“I worked towards the future, to become a world champion and Olympic champions, and to become a pharmacist or lawyer with my study.
On the day I didn’t practice, I felt that I lost something and that day it wasn’t good.”