12-year-old Syrian Hend Zaza sends inspiring message after Tokyo journey


Matthew Kynaston
  • English
  • Arabic

Hend Zaza’s brief Olympic journey may have come to an end, but the Syrian table tennis player, the youngest competitor at Tokyo 2020 aged just 12, has inspired everyone who has followed her journey.

Within a few hours of carrying her nation’s flag into the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony on Friday evening, Zaza was in action in the women’s preliminary round against an opponent more than three times her age in 39-year-old Liu Jia from Austria.

It proved to be a short encounter. Despite taking the lead twice in games two and three, Zaza was unable to consolidate, while the Austrian dominated throughout. The final result was 4-0 in a match that lasted just 24 minutes.

Albeit a brief appearance in Tokyo, Zaza’s story is one that has truly captured the Olympic spirit. Her home city of Hama was heavily affected by terrorism and the ongoing Syrian civil war. At the age of just five years old, and inspired by her older brother, Obaida, she took up table tennis as respite from the daily hardships.

At seven years old, Zaza accompanied her brother to the West Asia Hopes Week and Challenge in Qatar in 2016, a regional programme set up by the International Table Tennis Foundation to nurture young talent. Having impressed the coaches, she was invited to compete.

Zaza now plays for Al-Muhafaza Table Tennis Club in Damascus. She has since become the first Syrian player to win national titles in all four categories in which she was eligible: hopes, cadets, juniors and senior.

She made headlines when she qualified for the Tokyo Games at the Western Asia Olympic Qualification Tournament in Jordan in February 2020. Zaza won four of five matches to claim the women's singles title with a 4-3 victory over Lebanon's Mariana Sahakian in the final in Amman.

Her progress has come amidst continued hardship in Syria. The civil war which killed around 500,000 people, displaced millions, and ravaged infrastructure since it started in 2011, has not only impacted Zaza’s life, but also her development. Damascus experiences frequent power outages which often restrict her practice sessions to daylight hours, and she can often struggle to buy training gear and equipment.

“For the last five years I’ve been through many different experiences, especially when there was the war happening around the country, with the postponement with funding for the Olympics, and it was very tough,” she said.

“But I had to fight for it and this is my message to everyone who wishes to have the same situation. Fight for your dreams, try hard, regardless of the difficulties that you’re having, and you will reach your goal.

“Playing against a very experienced opponent is very tough especially for my first Olympic match so it was very tough to mentally be prepared for it. But I think I managed somehow to overcome this.

Syria's Hend Zaza hits a shot against Austria's Liu Jia.
Syria's Hend Zaza hits a shot against Austria's Liu Jia.

“I was hoping to play better but it’s a good lesson, especially with this being my first Olympics. I will work on it to get a better result for next time. I want to be in this competition longer, not only for the first round.”

Austria’s Liu, who was European champion in 2005 – four years before Zaza was born – offered words of encouragement in admiration of the Syrian.

“There are people who have to endure difficulties. They are amazing, it hasn’t been easy for them," she said. "She’s a girl, too – to be in an Olympics at 12, in my heart I really admire her.”

Having overcome so much just to be at the Games, this loss, as painful as it may be, is unlikely to be a major setback in the story of the fifth youngest Olympian in history.

"I think I had a good performance and I learned from the loss," Zaza said. "Hopefully in the next Olympics, there will be something in it for me."



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Power: 727hp

Torque: 1,000Nm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km

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Mina Cup winners

Under 12 – Minerva Academy

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Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

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The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Director: Joseph Kosinski

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The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8

Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm

Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km

Price: Dh380,000

On sale: now 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid

When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

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Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

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In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

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Fixtures and results:

Wed, Aug 29:

  • Malaysia bt Hong Kong by 3 wickets
  • Oman bt Nepal by 7 wickets
  • UAE bt Singapore by 215 runs

Thu, Aug 30: 

  • UAE bt Nepal by 78 runs
  • Hong Kong bt Singapore by 5 wickets
  • Oman bt Malaysia by 2 wickets

Sat, Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong; Oman v Singapore; Malaysia v Nepal

Sun, Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman; Malaysia v UAE; Nepal v Singapore

Tue, Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore; UAE v Oman; Nepal v Hong Kong

Thu, Sep 6: Final

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

Six large-scale objects on show
  • Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
  • The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
  • A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
  • Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
  • A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
  • Torrijos Palace dome
Martin Sabbagh profile

Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East

In the role: Since January 2015

Lives: In the UAE

Background: M&A, investment banking

Studied: Corporate finance

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Brief scores:

Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first

Kerala Knights 103-7 (10 ov)

Parnell 59 not out; Tambe 5-15

Sindhis 104-1 (7.4 ov)

Watson 50 not out, Devcich 49

Stage 5 results

1 Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 3:48:53

2 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team -

Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott - 

4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ  0:00:04

5 Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) CCC Team 0:00:07

General Classification:

1 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 20:35:04

2 Tadej Pogacar (SlO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:01

3 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 0:01:33

4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:48

5 Rafał Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:11

Guns N’ Roses’s last gig before Abu Dhabi was in Hong Kong on November 21. We were there – and here’s what they played, and in what order. You were warned.

  • It’s So Easy
  • Mr Brownstone
  • Chinese Democracy
  • Welcome to the Jungle
  • Double Talkin’ Jive
  • Better
  • Estranged
  • Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
  • Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
  • Rocket Queen
  • You Could Be Mine
  • Shadow of Your Love
  • Attitude (Misfits cover)
  • Civil War
  • Coma
  • Love Theme from The Godfather (movie cover)
  • Sweet Child O’ Mine
  • Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb cover)
  • Wish You Were Here (instrumental Pink Floyd cover)
  • November Rain
  • Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
  • Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
  • Nightrain

Encore:

  • Patience
  • Don’t Cry
  • The Seeker (The Who cover)
  • Paradise City
Red flags
  • Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
  • Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
  • Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
  • Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
  • Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.

Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

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Country-size land deals

US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:

Louisiana Purchase

If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.

Florida Purchase Treaty

The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty. 

Alaska purchase

America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of  Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".

The Philippines

At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million. 

US Virgin Islands

It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.

Gwadar

The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees. 

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

The biog

Birthday: February 22, 1956

Born: Madahha near Chittagong, Bangladesh

Arrived in UAE: 1978

Exercise: At least one hour a day on the Corniche, from 5.30-6am and 7pm to 8pm.

Favourite place in Abu Dhabi? “Everywhere. Wherever you go, you can relax.”

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Williams at Wimbledon

Venus Williams - 5 titles (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008)

Serena Williams - 7 titles (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016)

Updated: July 24, 2021, 12:20 PM`