Iran Loses to Mexico at FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran basketball team failed to book a place at the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) semi-final in Turin, Italy.
Dirk Bauermann’s men lost to Mexicans 75-70 on Tuesday.
Iran crashed out of the competition despite a superb comeback, sparked by Behram Yakhchali and his game-high 20 points. Arsalan Kazemi also fought through pain and after going down with a knee injury to provide plenty of inspiration but Mexico made the big plays late to win.
Jorge Gutierrez was excellent for much of the game for Mexico on both sides of the court and finished with 15 points and 3 steals.
Iran had lost to Greece 78-53 in its first match.
Six teams are split into two groups for a FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament in Turin. Group A has Greece, Mexico and Iran, while Group B has Tunisia, Croatia and Italy.
Nine teams have already punched their ticket to Rio de Janeiro.
The top two of each pool play off in the crossover round.
The first-place team in Group A will take on the second-place team from Group B in one semi-final, and the side that comes top of Group B will go up against the second-top team in Group A in the other semi-final.
The winners will then meet in a do-or-die showdown for a spot in the Olympics.
