The Life of Nima Alamian, Now History Maker
2015 ITTF Belgium Open
Courtesy of ITTF
What a difference a week makes; the phrase could be no more apt than in the life of Iran’s Nima Alamian. In Wels he was beaten in the group stage of proceedings by Russia’s Mikhail Paikov; he did not even progress to the preliminary round, let alone the main draw.
Now some nine days later after his participation in Austria concluded, life for the 22 year old is very different; on Saturday September 12th, he won the Men’s Singles title at the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Belgium Open.
Occupying the no.23 seed position, at the final hurdle he beat Hunor Szocs, the no.18 seed, in five games (11-8, 11-9, 11-7, 11-13. 11-4) to conclude matters as arguably the most successful player in the whole tournament.
Two Titles
Earlier in the day he had won the Men’s Doubles title in partnership with elder brother Noshad Alamiyan and was therefore one of two players to leave de Haan with two titles.
The other was Singapore’s Zhou Yihan who won Women’s Doubles gold in partnership with Lin Ye, having one day earlier beaten her doubles partner to secure the Under 21 Women’s Singles title.
Fantastic Week
“It was a fantastic week for me, I had never won a title and now I win the doubles and singles titles here in Belgium”, said Nima Alamian who had never previously ventured beyond the second round of an ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles event.
In fact only on two occasions had negotiated the opening round; in 2012 in Rabat he was beaten by brother, Noshad, who progressed to win the title, two weeks ago in the Czech Republic, he advanced to the same round, losing to Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna.
Higher Level
“My level of play was also a lot better than in Austria and the Czech Republic”, added Nima Alamian. “I hope to rise 50 places in the world ranking now; I will prepare now for the Asian Championships all top players will be there, so it will be difficult to get a medal.”
True but how many experts would have forecast that the no.23 seed would win the Men’s Singles title at the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Belgium Open?
Hunor Szocs
Disappointment for Hunor Szocs but like Nima Alamian, by some distance he surpassed previous achievements; his prior best was a quarterfinal finish in Zagreb in 2014 when beaten by Japan’s Tonin Ryuzaki.
Meanwhile, this year he has never advanced beyond the second round.
He reached round two Zagreb losing to Spain’s Alvaro Robles, in the Philippines he departed in the same round, beaten by Chinese Taipei’s Liao Cheng-Ting.
History Written
In de Haan it was defeat at the hands of Nima Alamian, who thus becomes the second Iranian to win an ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles titles.
Furthermore, history is written.
It is the first time in the history of the ITTF World Tour that brothers have won a Men’s Doubles title; also Nima Alamian and Noshad Alamiyan are the only brothers to have won ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles titles.
