Iran national basketball team

Iran
FIBA ranking	25 8[1]
Joined FIBA	1947
FIBA zone	FIBA Asia
National federation	I.R.I.B.F.
Coach	Dirk Bauermann
Olympic Games
Appearances	2
Medals	None
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	2
Medals	None
FIBA Asia Championship
Appearances	16
Medals	Gold: 2007, 2009, 2013 Bronze : 2015
Asian Games
Appearances	9
Medals	Silver : 2014 Bronze : 1951, 2006, 2010
Uniforms
Light Dark
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Asian Championship 3 0 1 Asian Games 0 1 3 Asian Cup 3 0 0

The Iranian national basketball team represents Iran in international basketball competitions, and is controlled by the IR Iran Basketball Federation.

As of 2013, Iran is the reigning basketball Champion of Asia. Overall, the team won three out of the last five FIBA Asia Championship tournaments.^[2]

History

Photograph of the Iranian national team at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

The Iranian national team has had limited success on the international stage, with the most international experience being that of their 1948 Summer Olympics qualification, although they did not manage to make it past the group stage.

The team won the Bronze medal at the basketball competition of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.

2007 FIBA Asia Championship

Placed in the dreaded "Group of Death" alongside China, the Philippines, and Jordan, the Iranians won all three group matches to make it to the next round.

In the quarterfinals, Iran went 2–1, to make it to semifinals, following victories over Chinese Taipei and Qatar, and then routed Kazakhstan, 75–62, in the semifinals.

The Iranians then beat Lebanon 74–69, with Hamed Haddadi scoring 31 points.^[2] Not only did it avenge an 82–60 defeat in the quarterfinals, they also became the first Western Asian team to win the tournament, and thus make it to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.^[2]

2008 Beijing Olympic Games

In being crowned the 2007 Asian Champions, the Iranians qualified for the 2008 Beijing games for the first time in 60 years. The Olympic experience led to a flurry of opportunities for the Iranian players, as they traveled across the world in preparation for the games, including a visit to the US. Iran was placed in Group A, along with Lithuania, Russia, Argentina, Croatia, and Australia, suffering five defeats. The Olympic experience opened doors for players such as Hamed Haddadi, and Iranian captain Samad Nikkhah Bahrami to play in the NBA (National Basketball Association) and sign in the top French League.

2009 FIBA Asia Championship

Winning the FIBA Asia Championship 2009 at Tianjin, China, was a sign on continuing progress in basketball. Iran defeated China, by a score of 70–52 in the final.^[3]

2010 FIBA World Championship

Iran's second consecutive FIBA Asia Championship gave them their first ever FIBA World Championship berth, at the 2010 FIBA World Championship. The team finished 1–4 in Group B, good for 19th place

2013 FIBA Asia Championship

Winning the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship at Manila, Philippines, was a sign that the Iranian team has forgot the tragedy of their loss to Jordan in last tournament, 2011 FIBA Asia Championship, and reclaimed the top place in the FIBA Asia. Iran defeated the charged up hosts Philippines by an 85-71 win in the final. Iranian center Hamed Haddadi, who played a stellar role in Iran’s triumph at the 27th FIBA Asia Championship, became the most accomplished individual player of the competition winning two awards, including that of the MVP. Iran was the only team with two awards in the All Stars with Oshin Sahakian named for the Power Forward position.

2014 FIBA World Championship

Iran's third FIBA Asia Championship gave them their second FIBA World Championship berth, at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.^[4]

Tournament records

*Red border indicates that the tournament was hosted on home soil. Gold, silver, bronze backgrounds indicates 1st, 2nd and 3rd finishes respectively. Bold text indicates best finish in tournament. B or U18 indicates that the team was represented by its B or U18 team.

Summer Olympics

Year	Rank	Pld	W	L
1936	Did not enter	–	–	–
1948	14th place	7	2	5
1952	Did not enter	–	–	–
1956		–	–	–
1960		–	–	–
1964		–	–	–
1968		–	–	–
1972		–	–	–
1976		–	–	–
1980		–	–	–
1984		–	–	–
1988		–	–	–
1992	Did not qualify	–	–	–
1996		–	–	–
2000		–	–	–
2004		–	–	–
2008	11th place	5	0	5
2012	Did not qualify	–	–	–
2016		–	–	–
Total	2/19	12	2	10

World Cup

Year	Rank	Pld	W	L
1950	Did not enter	–	–	–
1954		–	–	–
1959		–	–	–
1963		–	–	–
1967		–	–	–
1970		–	–	–
1974	Did not qualify	–	–	–
1978	Did not enter	–	–	–
1982	Did not qualify	–	–	–
1986		–	–	–
1990		–	–	–
1994		–	–	–
1998		–	–	–
2002		–	–	–
2006		–	–	–
2010	19th place	5	1	4
2014	20th place	5	1	4
Total	2/17	10	2	8

Asian Championship

Year	Rank	Pld	W	L
Europe
1959	17th place	7	1	6
Asia
1960	Did not enter	–	–	–
1963		–	–	–
1965		–	–	–
1967		–	–	–
1969		–	–	–
1971		–	–	–
1973	5th place	10	4	6
1975	Did not enter	–	–	–
1977		–	–	–
1979		–	–	–
1981	8th place	7	3	4
1983	5th place	6	5	1
1985	8th place	6	2	4
1987	Did not enter	–	–	–
1989	5th place	7	4	3
1991	6th place	8	4	4
1993	4th place	6	4	2
1995	10th place	8	5	3
1997	8th place	7	3	4
1999	Did not qualify	–	–	–
2001		–	–	–
2003	5th place	7	4	3
2005	6th place	8	4	4
2007	Champions	8	7	1
2009	Champions	9	9	0
2011	5th place	9	8	1
2013	Champions	9	9	0
2015	3rd place	9	7	2
Total	16/28	124	82	42

Asian Games

Year	Rank	Pld	W	L
1951	3rd place	4	2	2
1954	Did not enter	–	–	–
1958		–	–	–
1962		–	–	–
1966	7th place	7	3	4
1970	7th place	8	6	2
1974	6th place	7	3	4
1978	Did not enter	–	–	–
1982		–	–	–
1986		–	–	–
1990	7th place	6	3	3
1994	8th place	6	2	4
1998	7th place	6	2	4
2002	Did not enter	–	–	–
2006	3rd place	8	5	3
2010	3rd place	8	6	2
2014	Runners-up	7	6	1
Total	10/17	67	38	29

Asian Cup

Year	Rank	Pld	W	L
2004	Qualified but withdrew	–	–	–
2008		–	–	–
2010	6th place (B)	7	3	4
2012	Champions	7	7	0
2014	Champions	7	6	1
2016	Champions	8	8	0
Total	4/5	29	24	5

West Asian Championship

Year	Rank	Pld	W	L
1999	4th place	4	1	3
2000	4th place	4	2	2
2001	3rd place	4	2	2
2002	Runners-up	4	3	1
2004	Champions	4	4	0
2005	Champions	4	4	0
2008	Did not enter	–	–	–
2010	Champions (B)	3	3	0
2011	Champions	3	3	0
2012	Runners-up	5	4	1
2013	Champions	3	3	0
2014	Runners-up (U18)	5	4	1
2015	Did not enter	–	–	–
2016	Champions	4	4	0
Total	12/14	47	37	10

Other tournaments

• FIBA Diamond Ball
  • 2008 – 4th place
• West Asian Games
  • 1997 – Champions
  • 2002 – 5th place
• Islamic Solidarity Games
  • 2005 – 3rd place
• William Jones Cup
  • 2009 – Champions
  • 2010 – Champions
  • 2011 – Champions
  • 2013 – Champions
  • 2015 – Champions

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship.

Iran men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Age – Date of birth Ht. Club Ctr. PG 4 Mashayekhi, Sajjad 21 – 23 February 1994 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Mahram SG 5 Yakhchali, Behnam 20 – 12 July 1995 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Petrochimi SG 6 Davari, Javad 32 – 25 April 1983 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Azad University PG 7 Kamrani, Mehdi 33 – June 1, 1982 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Jiangsu Monkey King SG 8 Davarpanah, Saeid 28 – 7 September 1987 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Petrochimi PF 9 Hassanzadeh, Mohammad 24 – 6 October 1990 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Azad University SG 10 Afagh, Hamed 32 – February 1, 1983 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Petrochimi PF 11 Sahakian, Oshin 29 – 21 March 1986 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Mahram C 12 Kardoust, Asghar 29 – 21 March 1986 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) Naft Abadan SF 13 Jamshidi, Mohammad 24 – July 30, 1991 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) Meralco Bolts SF 14 Nikkhah Bahrami, Samad 32 – 11 May 1983 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Petrochimi C 15 Haddadi, Hamed 30 – 19 May 1985 2.18 m (7 ft 2 in) Mahram	Head coach Dirk Bauermann Assistant coach(es) Mehran Shahintab Legend Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on 23 September 2015

Head coaches

Note: The following list may not be complete

Kazem Rahbari (1948) Hossein Soudipour (1966) George Chiraleu (1974) Mohammad Hassan Zolfaghari (1981) Enayatollah Atashi (1983) Reza Esmaeili (1985) Majid Towfigh (1989) Asadollah Kabir (1990) Valery Lunichkin (1991) Asadollah Kabir (1993) Vitali Zastakhov (1994) Manouchehr Shahamatnejad (1995) Ahmad Reza Elliin (1996) Saeid Fathi (1997)

Enayatollah Atashi (1998) Gary LeMoine (2000–2001) Saeid Armaghani (2001–2002) Mehran Shahintab (2002) Nenad Trajković (2003) Mostafa Hashemi (2003) Vladimir Bošnjak (2004–2005) Mohammad Mehdi Izadpanah (2005) Fred Oniga (2006) Rajko Toroman (2007–2008) Veselin Matić (2009–2011) Memi Bečirovič (2012–2014) Dirk Bauermann (2015–)

References

1. "FIBA Ranking for Men". Fiba.Com. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
2. "IRN/LIB – It's Iraaaaaan!". FIBA. Retrieved 5 August 2007.
3. "Iran wins Asian Basketball Championships". WashingtonTV. Retrieved 17 August 2009.
4. "Fan Thread". PersianFootball.com. Retrieved 3 February 2014.

External links

• Official website (Persian)
• FIBA profile