Central Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships:
Iranian girls edge out Kazakhstan in opener
Iranian under-19 women’s team got off to a flying start at the Central Asian Table Tennis Youth Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, beating the host 3-2 in the Group 1 opener on Friday.
Setayesh Iloukhani suffered a 3-2 loss to Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Mochalkina, before Vania Yavari leveled the scoreline at 1-1, thanks to a 3-1 win against Albina Zhaxylykova.
Noila Khaniyazova came out victorious (3-1) against Fatemeh Yazdanpanah to restore the lead for the host, but Iran bounced back again through Iloukhani, who beat Zhaxylykova in straight games.
Yavari rose up to the occasion in the decisive contest, defeating Viktoriya Mochalkina 3-0 to seal a first win for Iran in the group – also featuring Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The Iranian girls will take on Uzbekistan today and then finish their campaign against Kyrgyzstan on Sunday.
The competition also serves as the qualification event for the 29th Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships – starting June 26 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.