Iran U18 basketball was crowned at the West Asia Basketball Association Qualifiers for the 25th FIBA U18 Asian Championship due in Bangkok, August 5-11.
According to the FIBA website, in the tournament held in Amman, Jordan, Iran competed with Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Jordan, and defeated the four teams convincingly.
Lebanon was Iran’s first rival on February 11 and was hammered 85-46. One day later, Iran faced Iraq only to humble the neighboring team 109-50.
On Feb. 13 Iran lined up against Syria in which the Arab side lost 106-47. In the fourth and last match the Iranians confronted the host country Jordan on Feb. 14 and cemented their victory in the tournament by winning the game 108-72 and ending the tournament unbeaten.
A total of sixteen nations from different Asian associations are participating in the games. The top four teams will qualify and will represent FIBA Asia in the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Championship.
Up to Feb. 16, eight countries had qualified for the Asian Championship namely the host country Thailand, defending champion Iran, Persian Gulf countries Bahrain and UAE, Lebanon and Syria from West Asia and Australia form Oceana association as well as New Zealand.
Representatives from Eastern, Southern and Central Asian countries have not been announced yet.
Iran hosted the previous edition of the games in July 2016, and finished first by beating Japan in the final match to win the third Asian title. The number of attending teams in the upcoming event has climbed from 12 in the previous edition to 16 teams.
