China's No. 2 table tennis player shockingly lost to 15-year-old opponent

A big surprise has appeared at the Asian Team Table Tennis Championship, taking place in India. China's number 2 player, Lin Shidong, suffered an unexpected defeat.

Lin Shidong suffered a surprising defeat against his Iranian opponent - Photo: WTT

Lin Shidong is 20 years old this year and is considered the number 1 star in China's new generation of table tennis.

Despite his young age, he climbed to No. 1 in the world in early 2025, and is currently ranked No. 2 in the world, just behind his teammate Wang Chuqin.

Late on October 13 (Vietnam time), the Chinese table tennis team entered the quarter-final match against Iran, in the men's category of the 2025 Asian Team Table Tennis Championship.

Even though it was only an Asian tournament, the Chinese team brought a strong squad to the tournament, with the trio Wang Chuqin, Lin Shidong and Liang Jingkun leading the charge.

In the first match, Lin Shidong faced Faraji Benyamin - who is known as the prodigy of Iranian table tennis. At only 15 years old, Benyami climbed to 137th in the world.

This was the first time the Iranian boy had had the chance to face a player of such a high level. But Benyamin was undaunted.

On the contrary, it was Lin who was shocked by the level of his opponent. After winning 11-8 in the first game, he lost 10-12, 8-11 in the next two games.

Benyamin is just over 1m60 tall - Photo: AT

Order seemed to have been established in the 4th set when the Chinese player won 11-5 in the 4th set. But in the 5th set, Benyami won 11-9 in the astonishment of all who witnessed the match. In the end, the Iranian table tennis prodigy defeated the Chinese idol with a score of 3-2.

Of course, it was just a temporary shock. The Chinese players were "furious" after this defeat, and "crushed" their opponents in the remaining matches of the quarterfinals.

In turn, Liang defeated Noshad 3-1, Wang defeated Hossein 3-0, then Lin himself closed the victory by crushing Noshad 3-0 in a quick match, thereby winning 3-1 overall against the Iranian team in the quarterfinals.

Despite losing, with Benyamin's shocking victory, the Iranian table tennis team created the biggest surprise since the beginning of the tournament. And the world table tennis fans have another young player with great potential to watch.

In the semi-finals, China will face Japan, while Hong Kong will face Taiwan in the other bracket.

HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tay-vot-bong-ban-so-2-trung-quoc-thua-soc-doi-thu-15-tuoi-20251014080228063.htm