Iranians prefer football to basketball

TEHRAN, July 26 (MNA) -- Iran’s Memphis Grizzlies center Hamed Haddadi said that the most of Iranians prefer football to basketball.

“Most of Iranian people don’t know about the NBA and it’s while they have so much information about football. They even have information about the Maldives’ third division football and the coaches who have worked in Iran in the past years,” Haddadi was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

“Iranian basketball has grown up during the past years. We have moved beyond Asia and need more support but majority of the Iranian people don’t care about us and what we achieved during the recent years,” the 7-foot-2-inch player added.

“The Iranian sports officials have just concentrated on football and the other events have been badly neglected. However, Iran’s football has failed to get good results in the recent years,” Haddadi concluded.

The 26-year-old Iranian player averaged 2.4 points and 2.2 rebounds in 31 games for the Grizzlies last season.

Grizzlies extended a qualifying contract offer to Hamed Hadaddi last month, officially making him a restricted free agent.