Secret weapon for kid skateboarder? Ice cream
Nine-year-old Indonesian Aliqqa is youngest athlete at this Asiad
Indonesia's nine-year-old skateboarder Aliqqa Noverry is set to melt hearts at the Asian Games - but give her ice cream and she could be a medal threat, says her mum.
The youngest competitor at this year's Asiad in Indonesia, the pint-sized adrenaline junkie loves nothing better than to rip into jumps at breakneck speed, her pigtails billowing behind her.
"I like all the tricks and going so fast - that's the fun part," Aliqqa told AFP.
"My family support me but they're also very surprised knowing that I'm the youngest athlete here," added the trailblazing teeny-bopper, who stands at just 1.30m tall and has been skating for only two years.
"Being the youngest makes me a little nervous but also more motivated. But my friends think it's a bit unfair that I get to skip school."
Clearly, nine is the new 16 - especially in the hipster sport of skateboarding, which is making its Asian Games debut and will appear at the Olympics for the first time at Tokyo in 2020.
Fist-bumping the bigger boarders at her local skate park on the outskirts of Jakarta, Aliqqa stops shredding to observe the prayer call from the local mosque.
"I think I would like to skate in Tokyo," nodded Aliqqa, who could potentially come up against host country Japan's eight-year-old skateboarding wonder, Sky Brown, at the 2020 Olympics.
"I want to get as much experience as possible from lots of different Games."
Proud mother Nin Hardi admits to being scared witless as she sits and watches her daughter skating with boys almost twice her size.
"Of course I worry," she said. "That's why I never leave her alone and always go with her to practice."
Hardi also reveals little Aliqqa's secret weapon in her quest for gold - ice cream.
"If she gets ice cream, she's all pumped up," said mum, who took care to hire a coach who would teach her daughter the correct techniques to help prevent injuries.
Aliqqa admits that the bumps and scrapes are the worst part of her favourite hobby.
"I don't like the injuries," she said, screwing up her nose. "I twisted my ankle badly once and I couldn't walk for five days. I can get a bit traumatised by a trick if it injures me."
Aliqqa's coach backed his young prodigy to do well at the Asiad. "At times she can be a bit moody," said Yudi Toengkagie. "But if she's in a good mood... (she) never gives up, despite being so little." - AFP
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