Mighty Iran through; Taiwanese out

CHANGSHA CITY, China—Defending champion Iran breezed through its first three games in the Fiba Asia Championship as expected, leading the Group A qualifiers that will merge with those coming from Group B, including Gilas Pilipinas.

South Korea and the Filipinos also made it to the next phase after ripping Singapore, 87-45, and Kuwait, 110-64, respectively.

While the Iranians, the Koreans and the Filipinos returned to the Final Four for the second straight time, the same cannot be said of the fourth member of that group in the 2013 edition in Manila: Chinese Taipei.

The Taiwanese, who dealt the second-placed Filipinos one of their only two defeats in Manila, bowed out after taking close losses to Lebanon and Kazakhstan.

Korea finished No. 2 in its group behind China, which pulled out a 76-73 victory over the Koreans on Thursday and was playing Jordan at press time.

Palestine, which rocked the tournament on opening day Wednesday with a 75-73 upset of the Philippines, remained perfect at 2-0 and could bag No. 1 spot in Group B with a win over Hong Kong, also ongoing at press time.

Iran, with a solid 1-2-3 punch in Hamed Haddadi, Mahdi Kamrani and Samad Nikha Bahrami, finished the first round with a 122-42 rout of Malaysia. Its victories over Japan and India were by a combined margin of 60 points.

The tournament is indeed a letdown for the Taiwanese.

They made it all the way to the Final Four in Manila but were blown off the court by Iranians. In the bronze-medal match, they bowed to the Koreans.