Categories: Sports

11-Year-Old Eyes Gold Coast 2018 History

Eleven-year-old Anna Hursey is ready  to make Commonwealth Games history this week when the pint-sized Welsh table tennis player hopes to punch above her weight and win the gold medal.

Hursey, who first picked uo the bat ate age 5, will become the youngest Wales’ athlete at the Commonwealth Games and is thought to be the youngest athlete, of any nationality, ever to compete at the quadrennial event.

“She’s taking it in her stride really,” Welsh coach Stephen Jenkins told AFP.

“She is actually really mature for her age. It’s just inside her – she’s mentally strong.”

Hursey’s team-mates, including Welsh number one Charlotte Carey, have taken her under their wing to help protect her from the glare of publicity.

“They don’t want to baby her,” insisted Jenkins. “It’s more that she’s a team-mate, and that’s important for Anna as well – she doesn’t want to be the baby.

“But the girls have been fantastic. Charlotte was in a similar position to Anna once and knows exactly what she’s going through.”

Standing just 1.60m  (5ft 3in), the Cardiff schoolgirl is a tenacious competitor, having already broken records by appearing at last year’s European championships.

“This is on slightly a bigger scale and she knows that,” said Jenkins, as Hursey smashed balls past a male opponent in training.

“But she’s not expected to win a medal so it sort of takes the pressure off. I know what she can do when she plays her best – the future’s looking good for her.”

Jenkins believes Hursey, who trains four to six hours a day and wakes up early to go running before school, has what it takes to climb up the world rankings.

“She can be top 50 in the world if she wants it,” he predicted. “If she keeps that desire to want to be a top player, she can go a long way.”

To reach her potential, Hursey’s short-term future is likely to involve regular training trips to China, birthplace of her mother Phoebe.

Anna experienced a baptism of fire on a previous visit to China, where she observed how Chinese coaches beat young players with bat handles to punish them for missing shots.

“It was a bit scary because if you get something wrong, they just hit you,” she told local media.

“I felt really sorry for my friend because when she missed the ball, they’d use the bat handle to whack her hand.”

But Jenkins believes China holds the key to Hursey’s development as she targets a place at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“She’s definitely going to have to go back to China,” he said. “We’ve got good training facilities in Wales but we’re also limited in what we can give her.

“She has to go abroad and learn from the best and China is so far ahead of everyone in the world, so she’s got to learn from them really.”

jorjapaxson3737

Recent Posts

Rivers Crisis: Why Arsonists Attack LG Secretariats – Wike

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has attributed the recent attacks…

3 hours ago

Adabanija: Over 10 People Arrested For Allegedly Criticising Oyetola

 Posts Capable Of Inciting People Against Minister – Loyalists Oyetola’s Aides Behind My Incarceration -…

5 hours ago

Mother Cries For Help As Vigilante Operatives Allegedly Torture, Rape 15-Year-Od  Daughter

..Alleges Police Of Foul Play The Mother of a 15-year-old girl, Helen Joseph, has called…

6 hours ago

Couple Remanded For Maltreating Minors

A couple, Abubakar Yuguda and Fatima Abubakar, were remanded on Tuesday by Chief Magistrate Musa…

6 hours ago

Kaduna Health Workers Begin Indefinite Strike

Health workers in Kaduna State, represented by three prominent professional organizations—the National Association of Nigerian…

6 hours ago

How 84 Nigerian Lecturers Died In Three Months Over Economic Hardship

No fewer than 84 Nigerian lecturers have died between May to August 2024 due to…

7 hours ago

This website uses cookies.