ITTF World Youth Championships:
Faraji wins historic U15 bronze
Iranian table tennis wunderkind Benyamin Faraji bagged a historic bronze at the ITTF World Youth Championships in Helsingborg, Sweden – a first global medal of the sport for the country.
Faraji, who is fourth in the under-15 category of the ITTF World Ranking, suffered a 4-2 loss (6-11, 11-4, 13-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-4) to Chinese world No. 1 Li Hechen in the U15 boys’ singles semifinals in Helsingborg Arena, though it still saw the 14-year-old prodigy etch his name into history books of Iranian table tennis.
Having beaten the host’s Adam Wallin 4-1 on in his first matchup, Faraji came from behind twice to defeat Japanese Shunto Iwaida 4-2 in the round of 16.
The Iranian then came out on top against world No. 17 Lin Ching-Ting of the Chinese Taipei 4-2 (11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 4-11, 12-10, 11-9) in a thrilling last-eight encounter on Thursday, before sharing the third podium with South Korean Lee Sengsoo, who was beaten 4-1 by China’s Tang Yiren in the other semifinal on Friday.
Faraji stole all the table tennis 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 – but ultimately relinquished a six-point lead in the deciding game to suffer a 3-2 defeat in the men’s singles competitions.