Iran defeated Qatar 65-39 in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium on Monday.

The Iranian team needed the win since they had lost to Iraq 74-66 on Friday in their first match.

Iranian center Hamed Haddadi was absent in this match.

“We lost to Iraq because they were better team and we made so many mistakes. I apologize to Iranian people for the defeat. I am so happy to defeat Qatar because we defended well. However, we have some problems yet,” Iran coach Mehran Hatami said in the post math news conference.

“We need to hold preperatory camp. Iraq and Jordan participated in 10-day training camp in Turkey and as you see they earned good results,” he added.
Next up for Iran are Kazakhstan on 22 February 2018.