Iran are the Asian Basketball Champs again!

[Farhad-7]

This deserves its own thread! 2 times in the row. Iranian basketball is at its best and no 1 in Asia!

Iran dominated China 70-52 to win the final.

http://china2009.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/09/fascm/p/eid/4046/gid/A/grid/62/rid/7140/sid/7038/game.html

[Farhad-7]

watch ceremony here. about to start!

http://atdhe.net/7228/watch-qatar-vs-taipei

[Farhad-7]

game leaders:

Pts: Haddadi 19
Rebs: Haddadi 17
Asts: Nikkhah 6


Pts: Wang Z.Z. 24
Rebs: Yi J.L. 11
Asts: Liu W., Wang S.P. 2

[footballist14]

congratulations to them, they deserve, now lets get a couple more players to the NBA

[EKBATAN]

awesome game! killed china on their home court


wow what a run this team has...2 time champions back to back


its 8 am on sunday and i had to get up and watch the 2nd half, i am so happy i got to witness this history making.....GOOD JOB TO OUR BOYS!

[Essi]

Did China have same team as Olympic?

[Farhad-7]

Did China have same team as Olympic?

yes except Yao Ming who's been out for a while but Iran still beat China 2 years ago with Yao Ming.

[Farhad-7]

TIANJIN (FIBA Asia Championship) - When Iran won the title in the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship at Tokushima, one question remained unanswered: Could Iran have won if China had played with their full team?

The answer to that question came two years later in the form of Iran’s thumping 70-52 win in the gold-medal game of the 25th FIBA Asia Championship.

Hamed EHadadi, who had scored 31 points in Iran’s final triumph two years ago, was once again the leading scorer for his side with 19 points.

EHadadi also collected 17 rebounds – 10 of them in defence.

Samad Nikkah played only 22:27 of the game, but had a telling effect with his eight points and a game-high six assists before that.

Never had any team dominated a gold medal game against China in the FIBA Asia Championship the way Veselin Matic’s team did on Sunday night in front a capacity crowd – which began to dissipate s the fourth quarter began.

As a matter of fact, this was the first time China lost a gold medal game in FIBA Asia Championship history.

Iran raced into an early lead and consolidated their position as the game progressed; their mainstays fired in all cylinders; their bench did more than what was expected; the offensive plays moved with panache; and most importantly the defence played wonderfully tight on the Chinese superstars Wang Zhizhi and Yi Jianlian.

“Basketball is a game of brains,” quipped an expert during the first half interval, when Iran led 42-25.

For sure it was the brains of Matic that weaved a magical spell of defence to keep both Wang and Yi on a leash.

Yi was the only player with double-digit scores at that point, but had failed with seven of his 12 field attempts. And Wang was allowed only six looks at the goal.

Iran on the other hand, played with composure and determination and built their leads in spurts.

A classic example for Iranian determination came in the opening moments of the fourth quarter when the 180-cm Iranian point guard Mahdi Kamrani challenged the 212-cm Yi for a rebound and succeeded in tapping the ball out.

Wang topped the scoring for China with 24 points, but played with wonted form only in the third quarter when he scored 11 of them.

The third was the only period when Iran allowed China to keep the scoring level.

Yi added only one more point to his first half’s 10, in a woeful 29% field record (5/17 attempts).

Where China lacked was in support from the bench, when their mainstays struggled.

The highest scorer for China after Wang and Yi was Liu Wei with six points.

On the other hand, Oshin Sahakian scored 10, Javad Davari nine and Hamed Afagh eight.

Truly, the Iranian teamwork had outsmarted the power of the hosts.

[Farhad-7]

[Nariman]

Dameshoon garm!!!!!!!!!!!!

[djmo]

Incredible!!

[The Joker]

Awesome!

[Irannn]

yes except Yao Ming who's been out for a while but Iran still beat China 2 years ago with Yao Ming.

no no , we beat China B two years ago, this is our first win over China A

[Mr.Click]

[Nokhodi]

Well done boys.
The best federation Iran has. Its run by good sporting people who actually have international connections and know a thing or 2 about basketball. Next big step will be the 2010 championships and then qualification for the Olympics.