Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games:
Iran edges Chinese Taipei in basketball to stay in knockout contention
Iran overcame a stubborn Chinese Taipei side 72-69 in a thrilling Group B encounter at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Saturday to keep alive its hopes of progressing to the men’s basketball quarterfinals.
Entering the court on the back of a 59-53 setback against Qatar in their group opener, Greek head coach Sotiris Manolopoulos’s men made an unconvincing start, with defensive lapses and inaccurate ball movement allowing Chinese Taipei to take control. The East Asian side finished the opening quarter 17-13 ahead.
The introduction of Mohammad Jamshidi in the second quarter, however, changed the momentum of the game. The experienced guard took control of the court and scored 10 points in the quarter, helping Iran win the period 15-10 and reduce the deficit to one point by halftime.
Iran again struggled at the start of the second half, with individual mistakes and rushed attacks allowing Chinese Taipei to regain the initiative and win the third quarter 23-21, leaving the outcome to be decided in the final 10 minutes.
With Chinese Taipei holding a narrow lead early in the fourth quarter, Iran stepped up its defensive intensity and showed greater composure on offense to launch its comeback.
The decisive moments came in the closing seconds, when Seyed Mehdi Jafari made two well-timed plays to help Iran seal the victory. The comeback was reminiscent of Iran’s dramatic fightback against Chinese Taipei in last year’s FIBA Asia Cup quarterfinals, when Manolopoulos’s men overcame a 21-point deficit to win 78-75.
Jamshidi led Iran’s scoring with 18 points, while Arman Zangeneh made a key contribution under the basket and finished with a game-high efficiency rating of 14.
Alireza Sharifi and Peter Gregorian each recorded an efficiency rating of 11, while Navid Rezaeifar played his part in Iran’s fourth-quarter comeback, hitting two three-pointers without a miss to help turn the momentum in his team’s favor.
Chen Ying-Chun, meanwhile, led Chinese Taipei with 29 points, while Brandon Gilbeck finished with 12.
Iran will wrap up the group stage against Jordan, which recovered from an 83-80 loss to Chinese Taipei to defeat Qatar 76-65 later on Saturday.
With all four teams in the group tied on three points, the race for a top-two finish and a place in the last eight remains wide open ahead of today’s final round of the group phase.
Iran and Jordan met as recently as July in the preliminary stage of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, where Manolopoulos’s men comprehensively won 67-49 in Amman before completing a 5-1 run to progress to the second round. The result also helped make amends for the 73-60 setback against their familiar West Asian foe earlier in the qualifiers in February.
The top two teams in each of the three groups will be joined by the two best third-placed teams in the quarterfinals.