Iran survives Chinese Taipei; Korea smothers Japan

TIANJIN — Iran ran into a serious challenge from wildcard bet Chinese Taipei, barely pulling off a 71-67 win in starting its title-retention campaign in the 25th FIBA Asia championship at the Tianjin Gym here yesterday.

Korea walloped Japan, 95-74, while Qatar blasted Kazakhstan, 77-62, in the other matches completed at press time.

NBA veteran Hamed Ehadadi and prolific forward Samad Nikkah Bahrami both churned out double-double numbers as the Iranians overcame the Taiwanese brave stand for a winning start in Group B.

Ehadadi, a Memphis Grizzlies player, came through with 19 points and 11 rebounds while Bahrami got away with 22 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for the Iranians who are determined to follow up their Beijing Olympic stint with an appearance in the coming world meet.

The Koreans, the only team to have entered the semifinals in all 24 previous editions of the Asian championship, were also off to an auspicious start.

Showing up with 7-foot-4 center Ha Seung Jin, the Koreans threw the full weight of their might in hacking out the win over the Japanese in Group A.

“We started flat in both halves, allowing the Koreans to get into the flow of their game. That’s the story of the game,” said Japanese coach Osamu Kurashi.

RP coach Yeng Guiao, however, observed the Koreans are really better than the Japanese.

The Koreans jumped the gun on the Japanese and held the initiative to the finish.– Nelson Beltran