Iranian female paddler Neda Shahsavari claimed gold at the regional qualification event underway in Hong Kong to find her way to the Olympic Games for the second successive time.
Shahsavari had to overcome Uzbek and Kazakh rivals in order to reach the final round where she recovered from the very depths of despair to beat Uzbekistan’s Olga Kim by the very narrowest of margins in the deciding game of a full distance duel (7-11, 5-11, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5, 12-10).
Iran’s Nima Alamian had to face his brother Noshad in the finals of the Middle Asia Zone tournament in Queen Elizabeth Stadium of Hong Kong.
In the contest between the two siblings at Men’s Singles final, Nima breezed past Noshad (11-7, 8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5) to reserve an August date in Rio de Janeiro.
The quota will mark Nima Alamian’s first appearance in the Olympic extravaganza while Noshad had previously taken part in London Olympics.
The 2016 Asian Table Tennis Qualification Tournament, the Qualification Event for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro, will be held from 13th to 17th April 2016 in Hong Kong.
HA/3598824