{"id":17363,"date":"2014-07-31T05:07:28","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T05:07:28","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-15T00:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T00:47:07","slug":"too-pretty-for-sports-and-she-s-asian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=17363","title":{"rendered":"Too pretty for sports!? And she’s Asian!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sabina Altynbekova, dubbed the Anna Kournikova of volleyball, has caused controversy in her homeland because of her gorgeous looks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Kazakhstan beauty has become an internet sensation after traveling with her team to Taiwan for the 2014 Asian Junior Women\u2019s Volleyball Championship.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 17-year-old attracted enormous attention because of her good looks, and Kazakhstan coach Nurlan Sadikov was furious, saying it was a distraction to the team.
\n\u201cIt is impossible to work like this,\u201d Sadikov told Tengrin News. \u201cThe crowd behaves like there is only one player at the championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Altynbekova\u2019s mother Nuripa Amrievna said she had wanted her daughter to attend law school rather than play sport, adding the teenager had been asked to model.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut she will not go there (become a model) \u2014 we as parents are against (it),\u201d Amrievna said.<\/p>\n

One YouTube clip uploaded a week ago of Altynbekova has already attracted almost 2,000,000 views.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taiwanese fans arrived an hour early to games holding Kazakhstan flags and following her every move.<\/p>\n

The attention is even becoming too much for Altynbekova herself<\/strong>, who appealed for fans to stop setting up social media pages focused on her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was flattered at first but it\u2019s all getting a little bit much,\u201d Altynbekova said. \u201cI want to concentrate on playing volleyball and to be famous for that, not anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n