Inspiration
16-year-old Ping Pong star from California will be USA’s youngest athlete at Rio games.
Born in USA to Indian parents, Kanak Jha holds a place of prestige in the USA Olympics contingent as the youngest athlete. He shifted to Sweden for 9 months to train and qualify for the Olympics. His coaches are all praises for his demeanour.
The Rio Olympics 2016 is fast becoming a celebration of the spirit of competition and sportsmanship with a record number of young inspiring athletes competing this year. The latest to join the roster of young athletes is 16-year-old Kanak Jha who left his family behind in California for Sweden to pursue his dream of playing competitive table tennis.
Jha is just days away from becoming the youngest Olympian for Team USA. Kanak Jha, who took to the table at the tender age of 5 years at a recreation center near San Jose, California, lived in Sweden with his 19-year-old sister Prachi, to coach for the game. Incidentally, his sister played on the national team but didn't qualify for Rio.
To balance out his studies along with T.T, he took online courses during his sophomore year. Staying out of Sweden gave him an opportunity to spend 9 months on the professional table tennis circuit in Europe, where he subsequently qualified for Rio. Jha is a full 36 years younger than Phillip Dutton, the eldest Team USA competitor who is 52.
'I'm happy that I'm the youngest, but I don't think about it so much,' said Jha, who in April, when he was still 15, became the youngest male to qualify for table tennis in Olympic history. 'In the end, it's just men.'
Other 16-year-olds part of Team USA are Laurie Hernandez (artistic gymnastics), Sydney McLaughlin (track and field) and Laura Zeng (rhythmic gymnastics). However, the distinction of the youngest athlete from any country goes to 13-year-old Gaurika Singh from Nepal.
Jha is extremely competitive during a match, but has a far easygoing demeanour away from the table. 'He has a good fighting spirit,' said US Olympic coach Massimo Costantini. 'Sometimes at that age, they get upset and are not mature. We're working on the mental side to make him stronger. A simple mistake can compromise the entire match. You need a strong mental balance,' Costantini said. 'It's not just managing success, but failure.'
Jha was born in the US, although his parents are originally from India. Father Arun came to America to study business and stayed back and continued working for Oracle Corporation. Mother Karuna used to work at Sun Microsystems; currently she has her own hypnotherapy and reiki business.
Kanak uses positive imagery and self-talk before and during matches. 'It's kind of a ritual,' he said. 'I just keep reviewing strategy and say some motivational things to myself. I talk (silently) to myself a lot. More than other athletes.'
The personal pep talks and affirmations seem to be working. Even so, his mom says she was 'so nervous watching' the Olympic qualifying event in April in Markham, Ontario.
Lily Yip, who competed for the U.S. in table tennis at the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Games, is one of the national team coaches. She hosted the current Olympic team, which wrapped up three days of practice with an exhibition and fundraiser at her club in Dunellen, New Jersey.
Though Jha lost the exhibition match to a much older and higher-rated Chinese player, the boy drew warm applause from the mostly Asian audience.
The Olympic format is highly competitive with quick best-of-7 singles matches played to 11 points. The Chinese men and women have been dominating the sport and winning Olympic gold regularly. Since the 1988 Olympics, China has won 47 medals, followed by South Korea (18) and Germany (5).
Jha’s presence in the team is especially important as the US has never medalled in the sport, which offers singles and team competition.
'There's a consistent training system,' Constantini said about the European Circuit explaining the reason behind Jha choosing to live in Sweden. "A coach, trainer, physiotherapist. It's something you can't find in the U.S."