Astana (Kazakhstan). China recovered from a shock opening match loss to world No. 1 Wang Chuqin by defeating Iran 31 to enter the men's team semifinals at the Asian Table Tennis Championships here on Tuesday. Wang lost 118, 311, 911, 1311, 119 to 14yearold Benyamin Faraji, who is 209 places below him in the world rankings.
Riding the wave of her favorable form in recent tournaments, 19yearold Lin Shidong helped China equalize through five thrilling games, ultimately 1311, 1113, 18, reports Xinhua. Won over Noshad Alamian 1616, 511, 116.
Liang Jingkun defeated Mohammad Mousavi Taher in straight games, Wang secured the defending champions' place in the semifinals with a 31 win over Alamian.
China will compete for a place in the final on Thursday in a lastfour stage clash with South Korea, which defeated Japan 31.
The 27th Asian Table Tennis Championships will run from Monday to Sunday in Astana, Kazakhstan, with a total of seven events, including men's and women's teams, singles and doubles events and mixed doubles events.
As the Asian qualifier for the 2025 World Table Tennis Championships in Doha, Qatar, it will also create some qualification quotas for the Worlds.
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Image Credit: KhasKhabar.