FIBA Asia Challenge: India loses to Iran in quarters

Captain and in-form centre Amritpal Singh (6 points) had a disappointing outing, converting only two of 14 field-goal attempts.

India's Vishesh Bhriguvanshi in action during the FIBA Asia Challengequarterfinal against Iran in Tehran (Iran) on Friday.

India’s run at the FIBA Asia Challenge came to an end after a 47-77 defeat to host Iran in the quarterfinal held at Tehran.

India stayed in contention in the early stages, with the higher-ranked Iran side taking a manageable 38-31 lead at the end of the first-half.

A horror start after the interval, however, cost the Indians dear. Iran outscored its rival by a whopping 26-2 margin in the third quarter, and the visitor had no way back from here.

Captain and in-form centre Amritpal Singh (6 points) had a disappointing outing, converting only two of 14 field-goal attempts.

Amjyot Singh (7 points) was not much better, converting two of 13 field-goal attempts. The dependable Vishesh Bhriguvanshi stood out with 14 points.

Iran captain Hamed Hadadi, the first player from his country to play in the NBA, recorded a game-high 17 points.

In the previous edition of the tournament, held at Wuhan (China) in 2014, India had similarly exited in the last-eight stage.

The result:

Quarterfinal:

Iran 77 (Hamed Hadadi 17, O. Sahakian 16, Yachkhali 15) bt India 47 (Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 14).