Iran thrashed Macau 148-45 in their first match in the Under 16 Asian Championships in Foshan, China, on Monday.
According to the FIBA website, The Iranian youngsters harnessed the rival from the first quarter by netting 31 points while Macau scored just nine.
In the second quarter, Iran went further to score 44 points and received only 10.
The remarkable performance of the young Iranians was fluid until the last seconds of the match when they left the court with a difference of 103 points with their contenders from Macau.
Iranian striker Matin Aghajanpour scored 27 points to be the top performer of his side as well as the top scorer of the match. He also made six rebounds and assisted one goal.
On the other side, Kin Wai Lei was named the top performer of Macau by scoring six points and making six rebounds.
A combination of 13 teams namely, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Australia, the Philippines, South Korea, Macau, Lebanon, India, Japan, Iran, Taiwan, Malaysia and the host country China are in the tournament.
Iran shares Group C with Macau and Taiwan and is atop the ranking of the group now.
The next match on the Iranian roster is today (April 4) against Taiwan at Foshan Lingnan Mingzhu Gymnasium.
Foshan is hosting the fifth edition of the biennial games, April 2-8. China has the record with three titles for the first to third editions of the tournament; South Korea won the latest title and the first in its history in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2015.
The best place acquired by Iran goes back to the first edition in 2009 when the squad finished third and China took its first title and South Korea came second.
Weighty Responsibilities
Iran’s youngsters are seemingly at their best under the management of Serbian coach Nenad Trunić.
A member of Interperfomances Sport Agency, FIBA Europe coaching clinic and FIBA Europe Coaching Certificate lecturer, Trunić holds a Ph.D in training technology in basketball and is the ex-coach of the U16 and U17 Serbia national team.
He signed a two-year contract with Iran Basketball Federation as technical director, coordinator of coaching staff and manager of training technology for youth program in the federation (all teams below the senior team) last April.
Beside coaching the U-16 team, Trunić has also had the responsibility of supervising and coordinating the U-19 team for World Championship in Cairo, overseeing training technology for all national teams under senior national teams, development of basketball coaches in Iran, making a coaching clinic and checking implementation of the national team program as well as talent identification and development of young players.
