ITTF World Youth Championships:
Iran’s Faraji into boys’ U15 last eight
Iranian table tennis prodigy Benyamin Faraji progressed to the boys’ singles under-15 quarterfinals at the ITTF World Youth Championships in Helsingborg, Sweden, thanks to 4-2 victory over Shunto Iwaida of Japan.
Having beaten the host’s Adam Wallin 4-1 on the preceding night, the Iranian teenager had to come from behind twice to defeat the Japanese player (9-11, 16-14, 4-11, 13-11, 11-9, 14-12).
Awaiting the Iranian – fourth in the under-15 category of the ITTF World Ranking – in the last-eight round is Lin Ching-Ting of the Chinese Taipei.
World No. 17 Lin came out victorious in straight games against Uzbekistan’s Khurshid Akhmedov in the round of 32, before beating Steven Moreno of Puerto Rico by the same scoreline earlier on Wednesday.
The winner of the tie will face either Chinese world number one Li Hechen or South Korea’s Ma Yeongmin for a place in the final showdown.
Faraji, 14, stole all the headlines in October’s Asian Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, where he rallied from behind to stun world seniors’ No. 1 Wang Chuqin 3-2 (11-8, 3-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-9) during a 3-1 loss to China in the men’s teams quarterfinals.
Faraji then came within touching distance of another major upset in Astana, going neck-and-neck with China’s Lin Shidong – second to Wang in the World Ranking – before relinquishing a six-point lead in the deciding game to suffer a 3-2 defeat in the men’s singles competitions.