National Iranian basketball team had the better of South Korea in a final match to win trophy at 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge in Tehran.
The final showdown of the tournament was held on Sunday evening at the 12,000-seat hall of Tehran’s Azadi Sports Complex where Iranian basketballers pulled out a sweeping 77-47 victory over South Korean rivals to win the Asian title.
Persians skillfully maintained the lead all through the game coming out victorious in four straight sets (13-09, 17-11, 23-14 and 21-13).
The Sunday contest between Iran and South Korea marked the second encounter of the two teams as Iran had once more overwhelmed the East Asian outfit in the second round of the sportive event.
Additionally, the Iranian squad had downed Qatar, Iraq, Thailand, Japan, India and Jordan to make a swift advancement to the final round as the only undefeated team.
Hamed Hadadi, Oshin Sahakian, Sajjad Mashayekhi, Mohammad Jamshidi and Behnam Yakhchali opened the entertaining final contest and their excellent performance prevented South Koreans from bagging points as late as Iran had taken an 11-0 lead.
In a different match, Jordanian basketballers quelled Iraqi rivals 94-72 and stood on the third podium. Meanwhile, China, Japan, India and Taiwan finished in fifth to eighth places respectively.
The first five teams, including champion Iran, were awarded berths to take part in 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification events in their own respective zones.
The 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge is the ongoing 6th FIBA Asia Challenge, an international basketball tournament of FIBA Asia which was hosted by Iran from 9–18 September 2016.
