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Iran, which placed its first player in the NBA last season, is the champion of Asian basketball after a lopsided 70-52 win over China in Tianjin Sunday. Iran had also won the title in 2007, though China fielded a 'B' team in order to prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Before 2007, Iran had never so much as medaled in its previous 11 FIBA Asia appearances, while China had claimed gold in 14 of the previous 17 tournaments.The AFP reports Chinese coach Guo Shiqiang has come under fire by Chinese fans and press for the embarrassing home loss. If I may offer Guo a defense, he might just repeat "YAO MING" over and over again. Yao, of course, is not playing with the Chinese team for the first time in nearly a decade, due to injury. He tends to matter quite a bit. (See: Grizzlies back-up singer Hamed Haddadi going for 19/17 in the championship game.)
Iran, which lost all fives of its Olympic games last summer, has qualified for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey. By virtue of being the second and third best teams at FIBA Asia, China and Jordan have also qualified. Perennial continental champ Angola, Cote d'Ivoire and Tunisia have advanced from FIBA Africa, and FIBA Oceania shockingly advanced the only two teams which competed in its "tournament" (Australia and New Zealand).
Europe (six) and the Americas (four) will decide their contestants in September. There will also be four wild card invitees.
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