FIBA Asian Championship 2009 Aug 6-16, 2009 OFFICIAL Thread

[Zamboor]

TIANJIN (FIBA Asia Championship): Defending champions Iran have been drawn along side wild card entrants Chinese Taipei, Kuwait and Middle Asia’s Uzbekistan in Group B for the preliminary round of the 25th FIBA Asia Championship to be held here from Aug 6-16, 2009.

The draw ceremony was held at the host city on Wednesday.

Hosts China have opted to play in Group C for the preliminary round, which also comprises last edition’s semifinalists Kazakhstan, fellow Middle Asian nation India and Gulf champions Qatar.

Korea, who bagged the bronze medal at Tokushima two years ago, have been drawn in Group A.

Japan, who lost to Korea in the final of the East Asian qualifiers in Nagoya last week, along with South East Asia champions Philippines and Sri Lanka are the other teams in Group A.

Lebanon, runners-up to Iran at Tokushima, have been drawn in Group D which also comprises fellow WABA rivals Jordan.

Jordan, it may be recalled, were the first team – apart from hosts China – to book their berth in the championship by virtue of winning the 2008 FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup in Kuwait last year.

Indonesia, who finished runners-up to Philippines in SEABA and United Arab Emirates complete the line-up.

Chinese Taipei, who finished fourth behind Korea, Japan and China in the recently concluded East Asian qualifiers, were given a wild card entry into the championship following the withdrawal of Gulf representatives Bahrain.

The top three sides at the FIBA Asia Championship will advance to the 2010 FIBA World Championship to be played from 23 September to 3 October 2010 in Turkey.

The championship will be played under a new format.

Groupings for the Preliminary Round
Group A: Japan, Korea, Philippines, Sri Lanka.
Group B: Chinese Taipei, Iran, Kuwait, Uzbekistan.
Group C: China, India, Kazakhstan, Qatar.
Group D: Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, UAE.
The top three teams from each group will advance to the second round of the championship.

Eighth Final Round
Group E: A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3
Group F: C1, C2, C3, D1, D2, D3
Each team will play the three (3) new teams in its own group (the final scores of all games played in the Preliminary Round are valid for this round).
The top four from each group will advance to the knockout quarterfinal stage.



I will put up times for games and streams when the asian championship starts.

South Korea Aug. 6 Japan
Philippines Aug. 6 Sri Lanka
Group B
Kuwait Aug. 6 Uzbekistan
Iran Aug. 6 Taiwan

Group C
India Aug. 6 China
Kazakhstan Aug. 6 Qatar
Group D
Lebanon Aug. 6 Jordan
Indonesia Aug. 6 United Arab .

[Zamboor]

Interview with Samad Nikkah



TEHRAN (FIBA Asia Championship): Defending champions Iran surely have their task cut out coming into Tianjin for the 25th FIBA Asia Championship.

For one, they will have to get past the formidable Chinese at home in order to repeat their title-winning performance of years ago at Tokushima.

Spearhead Samad Nikkah, what with an educative experience at the competitive French league behind him, is surely one of those who are aware of the Herculean task ahead.

“If you want to be the champion of the tournament, you must beat everybody, no matter who it is and where you play,” the 26-year-old Mahram forward said in this exclusive interview.

Excerpts

Q: Is there additional pressure on Iran to defend the title, especially playing against China in China?

A: I don’t know if there is any additional pressure, but we surely want to repeat our performance two years ago.

But we know it won’t be easy. We are aware of the task at hand to retain our title.

If you want to be the champion of the tournament, you must beat everybody, no matter who it is and where you play. But it is easier said than done. We must put a lot of energy to reach that goal.

Q: Many players in the Iran are two years older now, and with much more experience? Is that an advantage?

A: Yes, surely it is an advantage.

We have more experience, especially many in the current Iranian team have the Olympics experience, which is tremendous boost in terms of self confidence.

I can say that we understand each other better and we find ourselves a lot better on the court than we did two years ago.

Q: Players like Hamed Haddadi and Mahdi Kamrany have all attained superstar status? Is there a problem in handling them?

A: Not really. And it is not hard to handle them, because all the Iranian players will do anything and everything for the team. This is our big advantage.

The Iran National Team jersey means a lot to our players. So every body will do what is positive for Iran.

Q: How is it playing under a new coach especially after the very successful coach – Toroman Rajkov – who gave some very good results in Iran basketball?

A: Moving away from one coach and adapting to another is always a challenge. More so if your previous coach has been as good as Toroman Rajkov.

But our new coach (Veselin Matic) is a real good guy and he has had very good relationship with our players. He too, I’m sure, is aware of the task at hand and has been excellent.

It’s all a question of how we take ourselves from the earlier programs to the current ones.

Q: What has been / will be your preparatory program for the Championship?

A: We have always had some very good preparatory programs. We must thank our (federation) president (Mahmoud Mashhoon) for that. Thanks to him and his collaborators, we have always had very good friendly international games.

As far as preparing for Tianjin is concerned, we are just back from a camp in Germany.

We will travel to Qatar for a tournament in July (where Iran will compete against Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan). And then we will play the William Jones Cup (in Chinese Taipei).

I think we have a pretty good program to get ourselves ready for the FIBA Asia Championship.

I have to repeat my praise for our federation who have done a fantastic job to bring our levels.

Q: What are the specific areas you are/ have been concentrating in your preparatory program?

A: We are working on our offense and defense transition. We need more speed and our coach is working on our defense a lot.

Q: Who do you think are the major competition to your campaign in the Championship?

A: I think all the teams are good. And as I said earlier, we must be everybody in order to win the Championship. But for sure some teams like China, Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar and Korea, are a little stronger than the others.

Q: What do you think of the draw? What do you think of the new format for the Championship?

A: The draw for the first round is very good and fair. But it makes our second round harder. And I hope the new format provides us with more chances.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia

[Super Shojaei]

our group seems quite easy, come on iran!! guide us to victory!!!!!!!!!!!

[Zamboor]

Iran NT Final Rosters for Asian Cup 2009 - Aug 1, 2009 (by Mohammad Ahmadi)
Final Rosters of Iran National Team for Asian Cup 2009 in China were announced as following :
Head Coach: Veselin Matic

Assistant Coaches: Mehran Hatami - Safa Ali Kamalian .

Selected Players:

Mehdi Kamrani (180-G-82)
Javad Davari (184-G-83)
Aren Davoudi Chegani (182-G-86)
Amir Amini (192-G-84)
Hamed Afagh (192-G-83)
MohammadSamad Nikkhah Bahrami (199-G/F-83)
Mohammad Reza Akbari (196-F/G-86)
Oshin Sahakian (202-F-86)
Pouya Tajik (202-F-80)
Hamed Haddadi (218-C-85)
Ali Doraghi (210-C-84)
Asghar Kardoust (210-C-86)
Hamed Sohrabnejad (206-C/F-83)

[DJ Alborz]

Best of luck to the boys!

They can win it!!

[EKBATAN]

6 games away from asian championship


even if we get 3rd place, we can go to world championship next year...so that means atleast making the 2nd round and winning the first game

[Zamboor]

FIBA has announced the broadcast schedule for the FIBA Asia Championship that will be played from August 6th to August 16th in Tianjin, China. For the first three days, six games a day will be streamed on the www.fibatv.com and www.fibaasiatv.com platforms.

In addition a number of Second Round games as well as the Quarter Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals will be available. The precise games will be known after the 9th of August when the Second Round schedule is finalized.

Day passes are available for 5 US$, the complete tournament package only costs 15 US$!

Please find below the 2009 FIBA Asia Championship Preliminary Round games from the games that are planned to be streamed.

Thursday 6th August

Local time GMT

09.00 01.00 Philippines v Sri Lanka
11.00 03.00 Kazakhstan v Qatar
14.00 06.00 Korea v Japan
16.00 08.00 Iran v Chinese Taipei
19.00 11.00 India v China
21.00 13.00 Lebanon v Jordan

Friday 7th August

Local time GMT

09.00 01.00 Korea v Sri Lanka
11.00 03.00 Jordan v Indonesia
14.00 06.00 Lebanon v UAE
16.00 08.00 Chinese Taipei v Kuwait
19.00 11.00 Kazakhstan v China
21.00 13.00 Japan v Philippines

Saturday 8th August

Local time GMT

09.00 01.00 UAE v Jordan
11.00 03.00 Uzbekistan v Chinese Taipei
14.00 06.00 Sri Lanka v Japan
16.00 08.00 Kuwait v Iran
19.00 11.00 China v Qatar
21.00 13.00 Philippines v Korea

The FIBA Asia Championship will qualify the best three teams to the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

[DJ Alborz]

Wow. The official Fiba website's Iran squad is really out of date!

http://china2009.fiba.com/pages/eng/...5/profile.html

[Zamboor]

Wow. The official Fiba website's Iran squad is really out of date!

http://china2009.fiba.com/pages/eng/...5/profile.html

sense when does Fifa and Fiba care about any asian team? xD dont you remember when they had put capello as irans coach

[Super Shojaei]

sense when does Fifa and Fiba care about any asian team? xD dont you remember when they had put capello as irans coach

are u joking? did they actually do that?

[DJ Alborz]

are u joking? did they actually do that?

lol yup! last year or before i think..

here's proof - http://fabiocapello.org/blog/?tag=fabio-capello-iran

[Zamboor]

are u joking? did they actually do that?

yup it said Head Coach : Fabio Capello on irans page

[Super Shojaei]

:rolf: :rolf: :rolf:

[Farhad-7]

:rolf: :rolf: :rolf:

fail

[radin119]

epic fail