Iran ping pong players knocked out of Rio 2016 Olympics
All three Iranian table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have been eliminated.
On Saturday, Nima Alamian, who had overcome Kanak Jha of the United States 4-1, with the set scores of 11-3, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9 and 12-11, in the preliminary round of men’s singles competitions at the third pavilion of Riocentro the previous day, lost to Romanian opponent Ovidiu Ionescu 1-4.
Ionescu, who moved up one place in the August edition of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings to land in the 78th spot in the world, started the first set robustly and took it by eleven points to six.
The Romanian paddler maintained the lead in the second set and even though Alamian made strenuous efforts to draw level, Ionescu chalked up a resounding 11-6 victory.
Alamian sought to rebound from his two straight losses in the third set, and was tailing Ionescu point-by-point when he just fell short and ceded the set 11-9.
The young Iranian tennis player went to great lengths in the fourth period, and managed to turn the tide. He clinched the set 11-9.
Ionescu regained his dominance in the decider, and widened the deficit to gain a convincing 11-4 win.
Additionally, Nima’s elder brother Noshad achieved an off draw in the preliminary round before slumping to Slovenian counterpart Bojan Tokič 4-1.
Iranian female paddler Neda Shahsavari also suffered a close 3-4 loss against Belarusian Aleksandra Privalova in the first round, and had to bid farewell to the tournament.
The defeats meant that Iran’s three-strong table tennis delegation was knocked out of the table tennis matches of the Rio Olympic Games, which opened on August 6 and will run through August 17.
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