Iran to play ‘different’ team in Doha

Iran national coach Vladimir Bosnjak said yesterday he is enlisting only two or three cagers from the team that played a two-game series against the Philippines’ 21-man pool for the FIBA-Asia Championships in Doha this September.

Bosnjak, 39, declined to identify whom he will bring to Doha but the likely recruits are 6-4 sharpshooter Aydin Kabir, 6-10 center Mohammad Shahsavand and 6-3 guard Amir Amini.

"It will be a different team in Doha," said Bosnjak, a Serbia and Montenegro native from Belgrade. "Our 7-4 center Jaber Rouzbahani will be with us. And we hope our top player Samad Nikkhah will also join us."

Rouzbahani, 19, anchored the Iranian teams that won the Asia under-18 and under-20 championships last year. He was supposed to play in the two-game series here but backed out to stay in Iran "for medical treatment."

Samad, 22, is a 6-6 forward who lives in France. He was recently quoted as saying, "I like to wear our national team jersey whenever they call me (because) it’s an honor to play for the Iran national team." Bosnjak said he will leave a spot open in the roster for Samad.

Four players on the national seniors team beefed up Bosnjak’s roster for the Manila series. They were Kabir, Shahsavand, Amini and 33-year-old veteran Saeed Tabeshnia. Kabir, 24, was named to Iran’s top five local players list and Tabeshnia to the Iran Superleague’s mythical second team this season.

The four saw action on the Iran team that placed third at the 1st Islamic Solidarity Games in Algeria last week. Bosnjak coached the team that beat Tunisia, 75-66, in the playoff for third. Other countries that Iran beat in the tournament were Palestine, Maldives, Chad and Jordan. Iran’s only losses were one-point decisions to Morocco and Azerbaijan and a 52-44 setback to Tunisia in the preliminaries.

Seven of the players who suited up here were on Iran’s under-20 team that upset China, 75-50, in the Asian finals in Tehran last October. The Philippines, coached by Joe Lipa, took 10th place. L. A. Tenorio, Johann Uichico and Macky Escalona played on the Philippine team.

Bosnjak said there was no secret formula to beating China.

"We lost to China (85-71) in the early rounds but we didn’t give them a chance in the finals," said Bosnjak. "We pressured them from the backcourt. We used what I call a combo defense where three of our players defend man-to-man at the top and the others play a zone near the basket."

The win over China earned for Bosnjak the job of coaching the national seniors team. He was formerly the Libyan national coach.

Bosnjak said the nine-hour flight from Tehran to Manila tired out his players.

"We couldn’t hit open shots and we were badly outrebounded in the first game because we had no legs," said Bosnjak. "We did a lot better in the second game."

Philippine team coach Chot Reyes said it was a good start for his players.

"What’s important is we play games," noted Reyes. "Playing games puts focus in our practices. We also get the guys playing together. We’ve got a great group of very talented stars, willing to play roles on our team."

Bosnjak said the series gave him a chance to assess the value of his players.

"In the Islamic Games, some of my players didn’t have a chance of playing more so I wanted to give them more opportunity to show their ability," he said. "I’m optimistic my young players got experience from this trip."

Bosnjak was responsible for arranging athletic scholarships for at least 40 Yugoslavian players in US schools, said Dayton Daily News sports editor Nicholas Wasmiller.

He brought a Yugoslavian selection to the Milwaukee Youth World Basketball Tournament in 1990 and later became an assistant coach at Homestead High School, Louisiana State and Ferris State. Bosnjak was once a volunteer statistician for the Milwaukee Bucks.

"He was a basketball rat guy–grimy, sweaty and could only think about basketball 24 hours a day," said Lee Frederick, director of the Youth World Basketball Tournament. "He wanted to be a basketball coach at Duke. He thought he would get a great coaching position if he sent players to the US."

Unlike the Philippines, Iran is an automatic qualifier to the FIBA-Asia Championships in Doha because of its top five finish in the previous tournament. Iran beat Japan, 67-61, for fifth place in the 2003 FIBA-Asia Championships in Harbin. Iran also defeated Chinese-Taipei, 83-74, Syria, 82-67 and Kazakhstan, 92-85. Iran’s losses were to China (93-69), South Korea (105-81) and Qatar (72-64).

To qualify for the FIBA-Asia Championships in Doha, the Philippines must finish top two in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association tournament in Singapore on June 20-26.