Iranian Youth Basketball Team Reaches Asian Semi-Final

Beijing, Aug 25, IRNA – Iran’s under 18 National Youth Basketball Team beat Lebanon 84-47 in quarter finals in Mongolia’s Ulan Bator to reach the semi-final game of the 2012 Asian Youth Basketball Championship. The Iranian champions will face the South Korean youth basketball players in the semi-final game. In the quarter final games of this championship the following results were gained: Taiwan 67 – Japan 68 China 67 – Saudi Arabia 33 South Korea 90 – Philippines 77 Iran 84 –Lebanon 47 The Iranian youth in the first phase of the Asian Championship beat Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, and Philippines and in the second phase beat Bahrain, and Indonesia, but lost the game to Taiwan. The three top teams of these games would gain the tickets for the 2013 Queensland World Under-18 Youth Basketball Championship. Based on records of the Asian Youth Basketball Championship, China with 9 gold, 6 silver and 2 bronze medals are the record holders, and the Philippines with 6 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals ranks second in Asia. The Iranian youth ranked first in 2004 and 2008, and second in 2002. Iran, which has so far participated in 14 rounds of the Asian Youth Basketball Championship games also ranked 4th in Sana, Yemen, in the year 2010./end