Asian Table Tennis Team Championships:
Iran finishes eighth in men’s event, secures spot at World Ch’ships
Iran had to settle for an eighth-place finish at the Asian Table Tennis Team Championships in Bhubaneswar, India, after a 3-1 loss to North Korea on Tuesday.
Despite the setback, Iran still managed to secure a spot at next April’s ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships in London.
Noshad Alamian was the only Iranian player to record a win against North Korea, defeating Chon Jong Bom in straight games (11–8, 11–4, 11–5).
Iranian prodigy Benyamin Faraji fell to a narrow 3-2 defeat (11-5, 12-14, 11-3, 10-12, 11-9) against Ri Jong Sik and Mohammad-Taher Mousavi was beaten in three games (11-7, 11-7, 11-4) by Ham Yu Song, before Alamian reduced the deficit to one.
Ri sealed the victory for the North Koreans with a 3-0 win (11-9, 11-5, 11-6) against Mousavi.
Iran began the day with a 3-2 defeat to South Korea in the first of the 5th–8th placement matches in the competition.
The event may not go down as a success story for the Iranian team, but teenage sensation Benyamin Faraji produced several impressive performances and results in Bhubaneswar.
The pinnacle of his campaign came during Iran’s 3-1 loss to China in Monday’s quarterfinals, when the 15-year-old Iranian rallied from behind to stun world No. 2 Lin Shidong in a five-game thriller (8-11, 12-10, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9).
Faraji then staged another comeback on Tuesday, recovering from two games down to edge South Korea’s world No. 13 An Jaehyun 3–2 (5–11, 7–11, 13–11, 11–7, 11–8).
Iran opened the tournament with successive 3-0 victories over the Maldives and Mongolia to top Group 2 and advance to the knockout stage, before defeating Singapore 3-1 to set up a last-eight clash with China.
Meanwhile, Iran finished 11th in the women’s competition – courtesy of a 3-0 win against Sri Lanka on Tuesday – also booking a ticket for London as one of the continent’s top 13 teams.
The Iranian team – comprising Neda Shahsavari, Setayesh Iloukhani, Shima Safaei, Fatemeh Yariseraji, and Saba Seraji – came out on top against Kyrgyzstan and Nepal without conceding a single match, but fell to a 3-0 loss to Malaysia to stand runner-up in Group 4, before beating Kazakhstan 3-1.