Iran’s national basketball players will participate in Atlas Basketball Challenge held by Atlas Sports of China on July 17-21 to prepare for two tournaments, namely the Asian Games and Asian World Cup Qualifiers.
The Iranians could well find the tournament more than just a challenge on their way to prepare for the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games as they share their group with world No. 1 team, the US, the table-topper in Asia-Oceania ranking, Australia, which has the tenth place in the FIBA world Ranking list as well as World No. 27 Poland, Varzesh3 reported.
China, Nigeria, Germany and the Czech Republic are drawn in the other group. China trails Iran in the FIBA Asian ranking and Nigerians is 32nd while Germany and the Czechs are 22nd and 24th in the FIBA World Ranking.
At the end of the qualification round, the top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals.
Iran basketball is atop FIBA Asian ranking but second in the Asia-Oceania ranking. The national team will also partake in a quadripartite tournament with the host country, China, Nigeria and Germany.
Games at both tournaments will help improve the national team’s performance for the two upcoming tournaments, the 2018 Asian Games opening on August 18 and the Asian Qualifiers 2019 China World Cup.
The three times FIBA Asian Cup winner in 2007, 2009, and 2013, Iran is in Group B of the Asian Games with the Philippines, Syria and the UAE.
After the three foretold tournaments, Iran’s squad will resume the Asian Qualifiers. The team shares Group F with Australia, Japan, the Philippines, Kazakhstan and Qatar.
Having played with Kazakhstan and Qatar in the first round, Iran will not play them again and will meet the other three teams in two-legged games (home and away). Iran will play their first match against the Philippines on September 17.
Founded in Beijing in 1994, Atlas Sports is one of the earliest companies in China. The core business of Atlas Sports includes commercial development of sporting events, planning sports tournaments and business promotion of basketball teams.
Every year, Atlas Sports organizes a series of high-level basketball tournaments for the best national teams and clubs from around the world.
