Iranian Basketball Going to the Olympics

For the third time in its history, Iran’s national basketball team has qualified to compete at the Olympics — despite popular belief that the team did not have a chance.

To compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Iran had to win particular games at the 2019 Basketball World Cup. According to rules that set basketball apart from many other sports, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has set specific and separate quotas for each continent and teams must win at the Basketball World Cup in order to qualify for the Olympics.

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The only other times that the Iranian national basketball team had qualified for the Olympics were 1948 and 2008.

The quota for Asia is “1+1,” meaning that, in addition to Japan, as the host of the Olympics, the national basketball team of one other Asian country — the team that performed better than other national Asian teams at the World Cup — will be entitled to go to Tokyo.

China's heavy investment in basketball over the last 10 years, instability within the Iranian Basketball Federation and internal quarrels between Mehran Shahintab, the head coach of the national team and prominent basketball players, had all undermined Iran’s chances of qualifying for the Olympics. Moreover, China, as the host of this year’s Basketball World Cup, had the home advantage over Iran.

In a crucial round of the Basketball World Cup, Iran had to play against China, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan, among others, to win the title of best Asian team. As the host of the 2020 Olympics, the Japanese team was automatically entitled to take part, regardless of whether it won or lost.

In the preliminary round, China was in the same group as Poland, Venezuela and the Ivory Coast, while Iran had to face the national basketball teams of Puerto Rico, Tunisia and Spain. From each preliminary grouping, two teams qualified for the next round, while the two losing teams played against each other.

Iran lost all three games in that preliminary round, It had a good chance to win against Puerto Rico and Tunisia but fell behind in the final sets of both games. China beat the Ivory Coast in the group round, causing considerable worry to Iran. But it lost to Poland and Venezuela and did not advance out of the group.

Winning in the “Losers Round”

In the next round for the losing teams, Iran was in the same group as the Philippines, Tunisia and Angola, while China had to face Nigeria, South Korea and the Ivory Coast. Prior to this round, China was one point ahead of Iran because it had won against the Ivory Coast in the preliminary round, while Iran had lost all three games in that round. According to FIBA’s rules, the teams that had competed against each other at the preliminary round could not face each other at the “losers round.” As a result, China did not face the Ivory Coast and Iran did not come up against Tunisia.

This rule ended up benefitting Iran. In the preliminary round Iran had lost to Tunisia while China had defeated the Ivory Coast. If the same results were to be repeated in the losers round, then China would have had the better chance for victory.

In the first game of the losers round, China defeated South Korea, winning its second victory in the World Cup, but the Iranian national team also retained its chances to make it to the Olympics by defeating Angola. So, at the end of this round, China had scored two victories and Iran one.

The last day, however, did not bode well for Iran. Iran had to play against the Philippines, which had no chance of qualifying for the Olympics. In fact, even if Iran had won, it would not have helped the team against China, because China had already achieved two victories. But then Iran got lucky. China had to play Nigeria and if Nigeria could defeat China, the host of the basketball World Cup, it would immediately qualify as an African team for the Olympics. The Nigerians won, even though the Chinese played with full energy in the first quarter, perhaps exhausting themselves.

Iranian players learned about China’s defeat to Nigeria even before their game against the Philippines was over. But they also knew that not only did they have to win, they had to win with at least a further 16 points in order to qualify for the Olympics. In the end, Iran defeated the Philippines 95 to 75, with four more points than they needed. And now, against all odds, Iran’s National Basketball Team is going to Tokyo.