Alamiyan selected as world best player

Iran's table tennis player Noshad Alamiyan has been selected as the best player at the World Junior Table Tennis Championships.

"The Iranian athlete was chosen by the organizers of the event due to Alamiyan's great performance," head of Iran's Tennis Federation, Shahrokh Shahnazi, told Mehr news agency on Tuesday.

Alamiyan placed fifth in the Boys' Singles event when he won five consecutive games, losing to Chen Chien-An from Chinese Taipei, in the quarterfinals.

"This is the first time an Iranian tennis player has won the world best player title," Shahnazi added.

Alamiyan, ranked 46, stunned everybody when he grabbed a 4-2 decisive victory against World Junior Number One, Kenta Matsudaira of Japan.

An interesting aspect is that the 17-year-old Iranian athlete attended the Madrid event without a coach.

A total of 48 athletes took part in the knockout stages of the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in Madrid, December 6-13.