News / Sports

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

Saturday, 07 April 2018 8:04 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 07 April 2018 5:13 PM ]

The photo shows a view of the FIBA U16 Men’s Asian Championship match between the Iran men’s national under-16 basketball team (players in white) and New Zealand at the Foshan Lingnan Mingzhu Gymnasium, Foshan, central China, on April 6, 2018.

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.