WTT Youth Contender:
Iranian young guns leave Tashkent with nine trophies
Iranian table tennis prodigies stole the show on the final day of the WTT Youth Contender event in Tashkent, claiming five trophies.
Saturday’s results took Iran’s haul to nine trophies across different age classes in the four-day event.
An all-Iranian final saw Mobin Amiri come from behind to beat Arshia Lorestani 3-2 (11-13, 8-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-8) in a thrilling boys’ under-15 showdown at the at the Humo Arena.
This was Lorestani’s second runner-up trophy in the Uzbek capital, after he had suffered a four-game defeat against fellow-Iranian Benjamin Faraji in the under-17 final on Thursday.
Faraji, meanwhile, finished his campaign with a runner-up trophy in the U19 boys’ singles contests following a 3-2 (11-3, 11-9, 10-12, 5-11, 15-13) loss to Alan Kurmangaliyev of Kazakhstan.
Mohammadreza Neshati was the other Iranian contestant in the age group, who settled for a third-place after he lost in straight games (11-9, 11-6, 11-10) to Kurmangaliyev in the semifinals.
In the girls’ competitions, Setayesh Illoukhani overcame opponents from the refugees’ team and Azerbaijan to reach the semifinals, before a 3-2 (11-4, 13-11, 10-12, 8-11, 11-7) defeat against the host’s Arujan Kamalova saw the Iranian girl take the third-place trophy.
This was Illoukhani’s second defeat against the Uzbek opponent, who had also beaten the Iranian in straight games in the girls’ under-17 final.