The men's basketball World Preliminary Round was upset, and the Iranian men's basketball team, ranked first in Asia, suffered a 35-point defeat against Japan, which is also one of the worst defeats in the history of the Iranian men's basketball team. As the former overlord of Asian basketball, Iran has won the Asian Championship three times in the past ten years, but now, they can't even beat the Japanese 2nd team.
In the 2007 Asian Championships, the Chinese team did not send the strongest team to play, and in this Asian Championship, the Iranian men's basketball team was in the limelight, and they successfully won the first championship in history under the leadership of Haddadi. Two years later, at the Tianjin Asian Championships, facing Yi Jianlian's Chinese team, Iran, who played away, finally defeated China with 18 points and successfully defended the title.
Although at the 2011 Asian Championships in Wuhan, Iran lost to Jordan in the semifinals in the gutter, missing out on a third consecutive title. However, two years later, at the 2013 Asian Championships, Iran made a comeback, this time without giving their opponents any chance, and once again won the Asian Championships. In just 7 years, Iran won the Asian Championship three times, and it can be said that they were the undeserved hegemon of Asian basketball at that time.
However, after losing to China in the 2015 Asian Championships, Iran's situation has deteriorated. Compared with the Chinese team entering the new generation, Iran is in the stage of green and yellow, still relying on veterans such as Haddadi to carry the banner. And this time in the World Qualifiers, because of Hadadi's injury, Iran was completely panicked and completely lost its soul at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends.
In this battle, against the second team of Japan, Iran lost without any resistance, they trailed their opponents by as many as 23 points in the first half, and finally lost to their opponents by 35 points. You know, Iran is only missing Haddadi, and the Japanese team is missing the three main players of Hachimura and Watanabe Yutaibaba, so in comparison, Iran is indeed old.
You know, in the current ranking of FIBA, aside from the teams in Oceania, among Asian teams, Iran is the highest ranking, ranking first, followed by the Chinese team. Japan, on the other hand, is in 5th place. But now it seems that the top five teams in Asia, Iran may not have a chance to beat them.