WTT Feeder Series:
Iranian girl Safaei wins historic third-place trophy in Cappadocia
Iranian table tennis girl Shima Safaei won an impressive third-place trophy at the latest WTT Feeder Series event in Cappadocia, Türkiye – the country’s first women’s title in the history of the competition.
Safaei defeated some prominent opponents en route to the women’s singles semifinals, before suffering a 3-0 loss (11-5, 11-4, 11-8) to Asuka Sasao of Japan.
Sasao settled for a runner-up finish after a 3-1 defeat against top-seeded Hitomi Sato in an all-Japanese showdown, while Safaei shared the third place with Tan Zhao Yun of Indonesia.
Safaei began her campaign with a straight-game victory over Uzbekistan’s Markhabo Magdieva, and went on come out victorious against eighth-seed Brazilian Laura Watanabe by the same scoreline in the round of 32.
Safaei continued with a 3-1 win against the host’s Sibel Altinkaya, and then held off a fightback from second-seed Dian Meshref of Egypt in a five-game thriller (12-10, 12-10, 5-11, 9-11, 11-8) to advance to the last four.
Mahshid Ashtari and Elina Rahimi were the other Iranian contestants in women’s singles draw.
Ashtari suffered a 3-0 defeat (11-7, 11-6, 11-5) against Japanese Sato in the last 16, while Rahimi crashed out in the round of round of 32, courtesy of 3-2 setback (7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8, 15-13) against Turkish girl Ece Harac.