Iran’s table tennis trials confirmed for Aichi-Nagoya 2026
Iran’s Table Tennis Federation will hold selection trials to determine the remaining members of the men’s and women’s national teams for September’s Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games.
The men’s squad for the continental event will consist of four players, while the women’s team will feature two athletes.
According to the federation’s selection criteria, 16 players in each category will compete in the trials. The field will comprise the top four Iranian players in the world rankings and 12 players from the country’s premier domestic division, based on last year’s results.
In the men’s competition, veteran star Noshad Alamiyan has already secured an automatic place on the Asian Games roster as Iran’s highest-ranked player in the world standings. His younger brother, Nima, has withdrawn from contention due to personal reasons.
The Alamiyan brothers were part of the Iranian trio – alongside Amirhossein Hodaei – that won the men’s team bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games three years ago – the country’s first table tennis medal at the multi-sport showpiece in 65 years – and then teamed up to repeat the success in the doubles event.
The women’s team, however, will have no automatic selections, as Iran’s top-ranked female player, Neda Shahsavari, will be required to compete in the trials for a place at the Asian Games.
Shahsavari will look to build on a glorious Islamic Solidarity Games campaign in Riyadh last year, where she won singles and doubles gold, as well as team bronze along with Shima Safaei and Setayesh Illoukhani.
Safaei, who also paired with Shahsavari for the doubles gold in Riyadh, will also miss the trials after announcing her unavailability for “personal reasons.”
Teenage prodigy Benyamin Faraji will be among the players to watch in the men’s competition, which also features Hodaei, Navid Shams, Amirmahdi Keshavarzi, Amin Ahmadian, Mohammad-Javad Sohrabi, Seyyed Mahmoud Mousavi, Arian Ghafari, Hamidreza Taherkhani, Soroush Amirnia, Mohammad-Hassan Habibi, Amirabbas Hodaei, Afshin Norouzi, Arshia Lorestani, Mobin Alipour, and Samran Karimi.
In the women’s event, Shahsavari and Illoukhani will compete alongside Mahshid Eshrati, Elina Rahimi, Helia Asghari, Zeinab Shams, Kimia Rostami, Parinaz Hajipour, Fatemeh Yari, Saba Seraji, Elina Monsef, Melika Karami, Melika Abbasi, Fatemeh Jamalifar, Effat Ranjbar, and Elina Ebrahimi.
The men’s selection tournament will take place from June 17 to 19, while the dates for the women’s trials have yet to be finalized.