In sport, youth is king. Despite the potential for lifelong learning, allowing for tactical and mental improvements in one's performance over a lengthy career, there is simply no substitute for the sheer strength, speed and resiliency afforded by youth. For this reason, an athlete's toughest competitor is time. For China's Jiang Yunbo, time is certainly on his side. The 3-year-old resident of Chengdu is, one imagines, blissfully unaware of the pressures faced by his compatriots on the Chinese national table tennis team. He started out batting the ball across a short tea table, and soon progressed to a full-size. To look at his training videos suggests that he may soon need to hire a sports psychologist to round out his coaching staff. The bouncing toddler is shown easily switching between forehand and backhand topspin drives using the shakehand grip. His grandmother, a former provincial team member, spoons up multi-ball serves like strained peas. A good boy, he eagerly gobbles up almost everything she serves. (He still needs practice looping against backspin, the amateur.) "When he was one-and-a-half years old, I thought that he was too little to learn anything, but then it suddenly occurred to me that I might try to teach him to play table tennis, or teach him how to hold the paddle," said his grandmother. "However, when he held the paddle in his hand, I found that he was quite interested, and from then on, I started (training him) and insisted on letting him play every day while standing by a small tea table." Naturally, young Jiang has attracted quite the following on Chinese social media. Despite the attention, his mother says the family will support him whatever he decides to do in life. For now, young Jiang Yunbo is happy just to play his game, unconcerned with the madness of the world. This is, perhaps, the true reason why the youth play better.

More at CGTN