- Hend Zaza, an 11-year-old table tennis player, has qualified to compete in the Olympics representing Syria.
- She defeated Lebanon's Mariana Sahakian, 42, to qualify.
- She'll likely be the youngest athlete at the games, with 12-year-old British skateboarder Sky Brown close behind.
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An 11-year-old table tennis player has qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics, and will likely be the youngest athletes in the Tokyo games.
Hend Zaza, 11, defeated Lebanon's Mariana Sahakian, 42, 4-3 in the women's finals at the West Asia Olympic qualification tournament in Jordan last week, CNN reported.
Zaza, who is ranked 155th in the world, will compete representing Syria in the Olympics. She's the first Syrian athlete to compete in table tennis at the Olympics, according to New York Post.
She will also be the fifth-youngest athlete ever to compete at the Olympics, The Guardian reported.
According to the International Olympic Committee, the youngest athlete to ever medal at the Olympics is gymnast Dimitrios Loundras, who was 10 years old when he competed for Greece's gymnastics team in 1896. Loundras ended up winning won a bronze medal in the team parallel bars.
Zaza is the youngest athlete to qualify for the 2020 Olympics so far, and just a few months younger than British skateboarder Sky Brown, who will turn 12 before the games begin.
The Syria Olympic Committee celebrated Zaza's win on Facebook, saying: Congratulations, our champion Hend is going to the Tokyo Olympics 2020."
The Olympics kick off on July 24 and will continue through August 9. The women's singles table tennis tournament starts on July 25. Finals will take place on July 30.
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