At just 12 years old, Hend Zaza is the youngest sportswoman to participate in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, a childhood dream for the young Syrian who, with table tennis racket in hand, had the difficult task of restoring a little hope. to a war-torn Syria.
Overnight, the girl became the best-known sportswoman in Syria after her victory at the Asian Table Tennis Championships.
She was the flag bearer of the Syrian delegation during the opening ceremony, which has only six athletes.
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Hend Zaza with Ahmad Saber Hamcho at the MIKE BLAKE / REUTERS Opening Ceremony
Zaza faced an opponent more than three times her age, Liu Jia, 39, in the women's singles preliminary round, but she showed no signs of nervousness, remaining calm despite a 4-0 loss.
Liu, who has a 10-year-old daughter, said she was having trouble sleeping on the eve of what she described as "
a match between two flag bearers
."
At the end of the match she says "
Yesterday, I asked my daughter: 'Do you know that your mother is playing against someone who is two years older than you?"
His first response was, "Then you better not lose!"
"
After her loss, Zaza said she hoped she had shown what it is possible to do if you fight for something: “
Over the past five years I have had many different experiences, especially with war. plaguing the country and the postponement of funding for the Olympics. It was very hard, but I had to fight for it. And this is my message to everyone in the same situation: fight for your dream.
"
The youngest Olympic athlete since Spanish rower Carlos Front, 11, in 1992, Zaza was born in Hama, Syria to a family of athletes and started playing table tennis at the age of five. She was only able to participate in two or three away matches a year due to the Syrian civil war, her coach Adham Jamaan said. Frequent power cuts also forced her to train occasionally, only during the day.