Iran edged past Qatar 77-75 in Doha on Friday in the fifth and final round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
The Group D match was held at the Al Gharafa sports hall. Qatar players put in a strong performance in the beginning. They won the first and second quarters to take the lead over Iran, IRNA reported.
However, their performance declined as the match wore on and finally Iran, benefitting from experienced players Samad Nikkhah-Bahrami, Hamed Haddadi, Oshin Sahakian and Arsalan Kazemi, passed over their Qatari rivals by two points.
Iran currently leads Group D. For the last group match, the national basketball team will face Kazakhstan in Tehran on Monday. Iran defeated the Kazakhs 75-54 in Astana, on February 22.
A total of 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 and 32 teams will qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China.
The 16 teams that competed in the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 will play the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers and the top 7 teams will advance to China in the same year.
Add new comment
Read our comment policy before posting your viewpoints