In the third window of Asian qualifiers for 2019 Basketball World Cup, Iran will play Qatar at the Gharafa Sports Club Multi-Purpose Hall in Doha on Friday.
Enjoying its position at the top of the table in Group D, Iran defeated Qatar 65-39 in their last head-to-head clash in the first leg of the Asian qualifiers despite the absence of stars like Hamed Haddadi and Mohammad Nikkhah-Bahrami.
The national team now enjoys the comeback of stars and plans to have a whale of the game against the Qataris in their home turf. In the second match in the third window of the qualifiers, Iran will line up against Kazakhstan at Azadi Stadium on Monday.
Iranians look forward to again humble the Kazakhs at home as they beat them 75-54 in the first-leg clash last February in Astana. Haddadi made 20 points, 20 rebounds, as well as 5 assists as the most efficient player of the team.
Iran shares Group D with Qatar, Iraq and Kazakhstan. The team’s only loss in the first leg matches came against Iraq last November when Iran lost the game 74-66. However, the Iranians stormed into Iraq in the second leg clash at Azadi Sports Complex in February and won the game 83-53.
80 teams from across FIBA’s regions of Africa, Americas, Europe and Asia (including Oceania) play home and away games over the course of six windows to qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China.
The 16 teams that competed at FIBA Asia Cup 2017 will play the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers. The top 7 teams will advance to China 2019.
Rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, the upcoming edition of FIBA Basketball World Cup will be the first round since 1967 that will not occur in the same year as the FIFA World Cup, but a year following the latter. Also, the group stage will expand from 24 to 32 teams.
