FIBA World Cup Qualifiers: Iran Beats Kazakhstan


FIBA World Cup Qualifiers: Iran Beats Kazakhstan

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran defeated Kazakhstan 75-54 in the second window of the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers on Thursday.

Hamed Haddadi had a whale of a game, scoring 20 points, grabbing 20 rebounds, handing out 5 assists, getting 2 steals and blocking 2 shots. Samad Nikkhah Bahrami, meanwhile, added 21 points and 8 assists.

 The Kazakhs were led by 18 points from Rustam Murzagaliev.

Coach Mehran Shahintab was generally happy with how his team played, especially considering the short amount of time they had to train together.

"We only had 5-6 practice sessions because many players just came last week," he told fiba.basketball.com. "We stressed more the importance of good defense. We knew that we would be so-so in offense, but I think we adapted well to both the gym and the game."

Iran national basketball team next faces Iraq on Sunday.

Kazakhstan will try to bounce back on Sunday as well when it hosts Qatar, who just earned its first win after besting Iraq to open its second window campaign.

Most Visited in Sports
Top Sports stories
Top Stories