TEHRAN – Iran’s 14-year-old table tennis player Benyamin Faraji has defeated world number one Wang Chuqin from China in a match held as part of the 2024 Asian Table Tennis Championships.
Faraji beat Wang 3-2 on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the tournament that is being held in Astana, Kazakhstan.
As the first Chinese paddler out of the gate, Wang conceded a grueling 11-8, 3-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-9 loss to Faraji, who sits 209 places lower than him in the world rankings.
Riding the wave of his favorable form in recent tournaments, 19-year-old Lin Shidong helped China restore parity, also through five exhilarating games, ultimately triumphing 13-11, 11-13, 18-16, 5-11, 11-6 over Noshad Alamiyan.
The 27th Asian Table Tennis Championships run from Monday to Sunday in Astana, Kazakhstan, featuring a total of seven events, namely men’s and women’s team, singles and doubles events, and the mixed doubles event.
As the Asian qualifiers for the 2025 World Table Tennis Championships in Doha, Qatar, it will also produce some qualification quotas for the worlds.