Iran to visit Lebanon, Russia for friendlies ahead of FIBA Asia Cup
The Iranian national basketball will take part in a friendly four-team tournament in Lebanon – also featuring Syria and Egypt – in the coming weeks, according to the Iranian Basketball Federation.
The event will be part of Iran’s preparation for August’s FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where Team Melli is drawn in Group B – alongside Japan, Syria, and Guam.
Iran will then head to Russia for a couple warmup games before the flagship continental tournament.
“Originally, a total of 10 preparation matches had been scheduled for the national team, but this number had to be reduced in the aftermath of the 12-day war with Israel and following restrictions,” Mohsen Mo’ezifar, the secretary of the sport’s national governing body, told Mehr News Agency,
A game against the Philippines in Tehran and a training camp in Belarus, have now been eliminated from the national team’s preparation plan, Mo’ezifar added.
Iran will begin its quest for a fourth Asian title with a game against Guam on the opening day of the competition in Jeddah on August 5, before taking on Japan on two days later – in a repeat of a group encounter between the two teams in the 2022 edition, which Iran won 88-76.
The final round of the group fixtures will see Greek head coach Sotirios Manolopoulos’s men play Syria on Aug. 9.