Who was the youngest athlete at Tokyo Olympics 2020?

Hend Zaza was the youngest athlete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics saw many young athletes taking part in the games. Syria’s Hend Zaza was the youngest athlete at the games. Zaza was 12 years and 204 days old at the time and competed in the women’s table tennis singles event.

The teenager lost in the opening round to Liu Jia with the scoreboard reading 11-4, 11-9, 11-3, 11-5. Zaza nevertheless made the entry into the record books by playing in the opening round against her 38-year-old opponent at the Tokyo Olympics.

Jia had utmost respect for her young opponent and was dazzled by Zaza’s performance in the match. The Austrian was participating at the Olympics for the sixth time. Jia had competed in the Olympics thrice by the time Zaza was born.

Zaza is the 10th youngest Olympian and the youngest since Judit Kiss at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Zaza is also the youngest table tennis player ever to compete in the Olympics.

She is also the youngest Syrian to compete at the summer games and broke the existing record of Alaeddin Soueidan at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Soueidan was 13 years and 243 days old when he took part in Diving.

Hend Zaza’s entry into table tennis and historic route to 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Zaza was born in Hamas, Syria on January 1 2009. She first started playing table tennis at the age of five and ever since has been under the mentorship of Adham Aljamaan. When Zaza was seven years old, she went along with her brother to West Asia Hopes Week and Challenge in Qatar.

She began playing with older players and that was where the coaches decided that she would build a career in the game. During the West Asia Olympic Table Tennis Qualification Tournament in Amman in 2020, Zaza beat Mariana Sahakian in the final.

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Zaza was only 11 years-old at that time while her opponent was 42-years-old. Even with the 32-year gap, the young Syrian managed to win the final and qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

Even after facing defeat in the opening match at Tokyo, Zaza was happy with her form in the match. She was the flagbearer for her nation at the summer games three years ago and considers Ding Ning as her idol.

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