Iran’s women wheelchair basketball team finished first at the Central & East Asia Qualifying Tournament for the Asia Para Games in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 4-10.
The triumph awarded Iran a quota for Indonesia Para Asian Games slated for October 6-13, the Iwbf.org website reported.
Iran defeated the host country Thailand 43-27 in the final game. It was the two teams’ second encounter in the tournament. In their first clash, Iran beat Thais 45-30.
Iranian players finished the tournament with consecutive wins over five teams. After overcoming Thailand, Iran thrashed Laos 53-14 and India 54-4 in the second and third matches respectively. In the fourth clash, Iran hammered Cambodia 58-17 in a convincing win to continue its winning streak at the tournament.
Unbeaten Teams
Next game was between the women from Iran and Afghanistan, both teams unbeaten up to then.
To the raucous delight of their bench and men’s team, the Afghans rushed ahead to a 15-8 first quarter lead, but Iran regrouped and went on an 18-1 run in the second period to snatch the lead and go into the half 10 points up.
After an even third period, Iran again stretched ahead and held Afghanistan scoreless in the last quarter to win 40-23. Iran’s Mahsa Saadat topped the scoresheet with 16 points.
Men’s Competition
Eight men’s teams are also competing for their place at the Asian Para Games in the Central and East Asia qualifying tournament in Bangkok.
The eight men’s teams will compete in two split pools. Pool A consists of China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia, while host Thailand will play Chinese Taipei, Afghanistan and India in Pool B.
Automatic qualification for the Indonesia 2018 Asian Para Games, which takes place in the city of Jakarta, has been given to men’s teams of Korea, Japan, Iran and Indonesia, and women’s teams of China and Japan.
