ITTF World Youth Championships:
Injury struggle costs Faraji in quarterfinals
A pre-match injury setback proved costly for Benyamin Faraji at the ITTF World Youth Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, as the Iranian table tennis prodigy suffered a quarterfinal defeat to China’s Li Hechen on Saturday.
Faraji, who won a historic under-15 bronze medal in last year’s edition, sustained a knee injury just before his last-eight showdown in the boys’ singles U19 category.
To secure the ranking points for the round—which would have been forfeited with a withdrawal—the Iranian technical staff made the difficult decision for him to compete.
Clearly hampered by limited mobility and pain, Faraji fell to a 4-0 defeat (11-2, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6) against his formidable Chinese opponent.
Faraji’s campaign had begun promisingly on Thursday with a 4-3 victory (10-12, 13-11, 6-11, 11-3, 6-11, 12-10, 11-4) against Brazil’s Leonardo Iizuka. He followed this with a remarkable comeback in the round of 16, overcoming American Nandan Naresh in seven games (12-10, 9-11, 6-11, 1-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-7).