Seven-year-old Allazarov cynosure of all eyes at TT Team Worlds

Kuala Lumpur, March 1: Seven-year-old Ylyas Allazarov of Turkmenistan has become very noticeable at the 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships here, even before his competition begins.

When most of his peers are busy playing, Allazarov is getting ready to compete against the finest paddlers in the world, reports Xinhua.

The youngest participant of the world championships is the fourth member of his team which hopes to win promotion from Division Four, table tennis’ lowest intertiol tier, at the tourment.

Born in 2008, Allazarov started to play table tennis early in 2014. His daily schedule features five hours of school study in the morning and three hours of table tennis training, with only Mondays off.

Despite his poor spoken English, Allazarov said that his idol is Chi’s Zhang Jike, the 2012 London Olympic men’s singles champion.

His father Agamvrat, president of Turkmenistan’s table tennis federation, was optimistic about his son.

“Table tennis is our life,” Agamvrat told the Intertiol Table Tennis Federation website. “My family lives, eats, and breathes table tennis everyday. I want my son to do well in the game. I will keep supporting him always.” IANS