Iran Defeats India in FIBA Asia Championship

Amjyot Singh was the star of the match as he scored a massive 26 points in a match where India trailed throughout. That approach paid dividends as Taipei managed to claw back the deficit to only two points at halftime. Iran started on the front-foot, taking a 4-0 lead early in the first quarter.

Yang then drew a foul on the next play and made his own charities, but with just three seconds left, the Koreans had to foul Zhou who also shot his free throws for a 76-73 China lead.

H. Afagh hit the first three-pointer of the match which opened the floodgates as India were put on the backfoot.

Two years ago in Manila, Malaysia lost to Iran, South Korea and China by an average point difference of 70 in the first round before going down to Thailand in a playoff to finish last of 15 teams.

The second was the fouling out of India’s primary centre Amritpal Singh just before half-time.

The second half was a rout of sorts for India as Iran showed their quality by outscoring India 49-36.

Forwards Amritpal and Amjyot are, notably, the first Indian players to secure professional playing contracts in Japan and will be raring to showcase their talent at Asia’s marquee event.

India’s third and final preliminary round game will be against Japan on Friday.

Ryumo Ono chipped in 19 points and eight rebounds and Takatoshi Furukawa scored 15.

Lebanon will face Qatar who defeated Kazakhstan 79-75 after overtime, Thursday, knowing that a win would nearly guarantee top spot in Group D.

With Olympic Games qualification also on the line in the city of Changsha, Iran forward Nikkhah Bahrami insists no game will be easy as his team looks to continue their recent dominance in Asia when the tournament begins on Wednesday.