Iran loses to New Zealand, falls short of FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup

The Iran men’s national under-16 basketball team’s dream to step into the 2018  Fédération internationale de basket-ball (FIBA) U17 Basketball World Cup has faded away, following a narrow defeat from New Zealand in the quarter-final round of the FIBA U16 Men's Asian Championship.

On Friday, the Iranian squad lost to New Zealand 73-69 in a thrilling match staged at the Foshan Lingnan Mingzhu Gymnasium.

The Iranians took the lead in the first quarter and took it by 20 points to 16.

Their dominance on the court, however, did not last long as New Zealanders came from behind and claimed the second quarter 17-16.

In the third quarter, the New Zealand side prevailed again and scored 21 points, while the Iranian outfit bagged 13 points.

The Iranian basketball players tried hard in the last quarter to get back, and earned 20 points against 19 points collected by their opponents. Nevertheless, the tally was not enough and Iran had to concede the defeat.

Iran will face South Korea in a 5-8 classification game on Saturday.

The FIBA U16 Men’s Asian Championship kicked off in the central Chinese city of Foshan on April 2, and will conclude on April 8, 2018.

It is the qualifying tournament for FIBA Asia at the 2018 FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup.

The top four Asian teams will compete in the prestigious international event.

Australia, China, New Zealand and the Philippines have already booked their places in the U17 World Cup.

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