FIBA 3x3 Youth Nations League - Asia Central/East:
Iran finishes runner-up in men’s, third in women’s events
Iran secured the men’s runner-up spot in the Asia Central/East division of the FIBA 3x3 Youth Nations League, while finishing third in the women’s competition at the six-day event in Cangzhou, China.
Having won the fourth and fifth stops, Iran settled for third place in the men’s Stop 6 on Sunday to finish second in the overall standings with 470 points, trailing South Korea by 40 points.
Comprising Mohammad-Mahdi Rahimi, Seyyed Mohammad Ghaffari, Mohammad-Basir Mo’meni, Sarem Jafari and Argen Minasians, the Iranian team suffered a 21-20 overtime defeat to Mongolia in Pool A, but bounced back to defeat Japan 21-14 and pip China and pip China to the third spot by three points.
Iran began the campaign with a runner-up finish in Stop 1, before finishing third and fifth, respectively, in the following two stops.
In the women’s competition, Iran got off to an impressive start in Pool A, beating China 18-15, followed by a comfortable 21-9 win against Mongolia to advance to the Stop 6 final.
A 17-10 setback against Japan, however, saw the Iranian women’s team – featuring Mahla Abedi, Mahsa Karani, Farnaz Khodamardi and Shamim Nouri – finish conclude the event with 440 points. Japan finished atop the women’s standings with 520 points, with China second on 510.
Iran women missed out on the final in the first four stops, finishing third twice either side of back-to-back fourth-place finishes, but delivered an emphatic performance to win Stop 5, beating Japan 16-14 in overtime and Kazakhstan 21-12 before defeating the host team 20-13 in the final.