Almaty, July 29 (IANS): It took just a few days for Sabina Altynbekova, an under-19 female volleyball player from Kazakhstan, to hit stardom. After some performances during a youth tournament in Taipei last week, the attractive sportswoman has pocketed more than 200,000 subscribers in her Instagram account.
The 17-year-old has apparently been receiving a lot of public and media attention due to her appearance, reports Xinhua.
However, Sabina's coach Nurlan Sadikov says that all of this media frenzy might endanger their original sport goals as other members of the female team feel neglected since it has been clear that the team's No.20 has been the centre of the spotlight all along.
Meanwhile, Sabina-obsession seems to carry on with tons of fans sending young athlete drawings, anime illustrations and other mementos featuring herself as well as writing her flattering comments and personal messages.
"I want to concentrate on playing volleyball and to be famous for that, not anything else," said Sabina.