MANILA: Iran routed the Philippines 85-71 to bag gold at the 27th FIBA Asian men’s basketball championship yesterday, powered by NBA centre Hamed Haddadi.
The seven-foot two-inch Haddadi was simply too much inside the paint for the Philippine side, scoring 29 points to lead all players.
Haddadi, the first Iran-born player in the US National Basketball Association, also grabbed 16 rebounds as he towered over his opponents.
The speedy Filipinos made a valiant effort, and were playing without injured centre Marcus Douthit.
It was Iran’s third gold at the Asian championship. The Philippines are five-times champions, though their last victory came back in 1985.
Iran, the Philippines and third-placed South Korea, who lost to the Philippines in the semis, will go to the FIBA world championships in Spain next year.
The Philippines trailed by as much as nine points before clawing back to 34-35 at half time led by point guard Jayson William.
The home team played in front of a crowd of about 20,000, with President Benigno Aquino and other top government officials at courtside to cheer them on.
Meanwhile, Qatar finished sixth after losing 96-85 to China. The victory was good enough for China to seal fifth place at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship.
Prior to this year’s games, China had won 15 of the last 19 FIBA Asia Championships. They are still the most successful team in competition history with 15 golds, a silver and two bronze medals, for a total of 18 top-three finishes.
It was a tight game at the start of the first, with Wang Zhizhi building a three-point lead off a Yi Jianlian assist with 6:20 remaining, 9-6.
Free throws from Khalid Suliman Abdi, followed by a conversion from Mohd Mohamed gave Qatar a taste of the lead at 10-9, before Yi and Wang, fueled a 9-2 Chinese run for an 18-12 edge.
Qatar ended the first period strong though, as Daoud Mosa Daoud canned two charities with two minutes to go.
Mohammed Saleem Abdullah and Mansour Elhadary then went on a 7-0 tear of their own, giving Qatar a one-point lead after one, 21-20.
Wang Zhizhi anchored a 15-4 run to start the second, to put China up 35-25 at the 4:50 mark after a Wang Shipeng trey.
The Qataris responded with a run of their own, going on a 15-5 blast punctuated by an Abdulrahman Saad long bomb to tie the game at 40-all.
Wang Shipeng and Zhu Fangyu had the last say in the second though, giving China a 45-40 lead at the half.
China continued to build on their lead in the third, as Wang Zhizhi and Guo built an 18-point advantage midway through the period. Baker Ahmad Mohammed briefly trimmed the lead with 68 seconds to go in the period, but Wang and Zhu completed a five-point swing to end the third with China comfortably ahead, 70-55.
Mohamed and Mohammed made it interesting with four minutes left in the game, cutting their deficit to 11, but Wang and Guo Ailun did their job on the free throw line, establishing a 15-point lead. Back-to-back hits from Mohammed and Saad ended the game, 96-85.
Guo Ailun led China with 21 points off the bench, while Wang Shipeng and Wang Zhizhi added 14 and 13, respectively.
Mansour Elhadary had 23 points, while Baker Ahmad Mohammed had 22, Mohd Mohamed and Abdulrahman Saad had 13 each.AGENCIES
