The ongoing table tennis world championships in Malaysia feature a SEVEN-YEAR-OLD competitor
With no minimum age requirement at the worlds, Ylyas Allanazarov is on the team list for Turkmenistan
It can be a great age, seven. Full of hope and optimism and yet to be burdened by the dim realities of life. You still think your parents are cool. Santa’s mystical powers have not yet been extinguished by skepticism. And, if you’re Ylyas Allanazarov, you get to compete against the best in the world at your sport.
It is exciting to see someone so young with such passion for the sport and desire to reach the top of the game
That last bit, obviously, isn’t quite typical youngster fare, which makes the presence of Allanazarov at the PERFECT world championships, table tennis’ biggest non-Olympic tournament, all the more remarkable.
But there he is, the youngster from Turkmenistan, clad in the official team uniform, listed alongside the finest players on the planet on the entry sheet and ready to do battle for his country.
“It is exciting to see someone so young with such passion for the sport and desire to reach the top of the game,” Matt Pound, spokesman for the International Table Tennis Federation, said.
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Turkmenistan is not one of table tennis’ leading lights and is hoping to win promotion from Division Four, table tennis’ lowest international tier, during the tournament, which started over the weekend in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
Allanazarov is the fourth member of the Turkmenistan squad, and with three players used each time a nation competes, it remains to be seen how much real action he will sample.
Yet his mere presence has turned heads in a sport where the technical nature of the action means players often do not peak until well into their thirties.
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Language barriers prevented Allanazarov from saying much when interviewed, although he did announce his favourite player was China’s Zhang Jike, gold medal winner at the 2012 London Olympics.