President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan knows a few things about table tennis topspin.
Wearing a suit and tie, he has displayed a solid forehand while sparring with a young athlete. He once smashed a ball past Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Kazakh president was head of the national table tennis federation for more than a decade and has attended the openings of centers for the game in the country.
So perhaps it wasn’t a surprise that Tokayev took notice when Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko, a three-time Olympian table tennis player, notched another accomplishment this month. Gerassimenko won gold in the individual, doubles and mixed categories at the national championships in Almaty.
Image: Olympic.kz
Tokayev congratulated the 28-year-old Kazakh on his three-title run and noted that he had made a big contribution to the promotion of table tennis in Kazakhstan and elsewhere.
Gerassimenko, currently ranked 56 in the world, has drawn the praise of the state in the past. After he placed ninth in singles at the Paris Olympics last year, the Table Tennis Federation of Kazakhstan gave him a two-room apartment in Astana.
The Kazakh champion’s father was his first coach and Gerassimenko later trained at the Werner Schlager Academy in Germany. Coach Dmitrij Levenko, who was a junior champion in Ukraine and the Soviet Union, also had a major impact on the Kazakh star.
Answering a few questions on Instagram, Gerassimenko encouraged young players to believe in themselves, be patient and train hard. He said he scouts opponents by watching their games on the internet to check for any weaknesses, and talks to other players who might have already played the opponents.
“And then choose your own tactic,” he said.
Gerassimenko’s success and, no doubt, Tokayev’s enthusiasm have helped to increase the popularity of the game in the Central Asian nation.
