Yakhchali Determined for 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualification

Iran will start the campaign on November 26 with a match against Bahrain in Group D.

“I don’t think there is any pressure as far as qualifying again for the World Cup,” he said. “We are confident that by playing hard and playing right, we can achieve our goal. We have great players that have lots of experience by playing at highest level. We will go step by step.”

“We qualified first for the Olympics in 2008 and then the World Cup in 2010,” said Yakhchali. “All of those players and coaching staff changed the mentality of Iranian basketball and paved the way for everyone. They believed in themselves and their teamwork and with that they put us on the map.”

“They set a standard also that will last forever in the Iran and Asia basketball.”

“Hamed and Samad are veterans who have been in basketball for many years and kept their level of performance. They have very good knowledge of basketball and all players among ourselves always exchange and keep learning from each other,” he told FIBA.com.

“The generation we have right now is also the result of Iran basketball being present at the highest level of basketball in the world. I talked about the standards and setting the bar high from the first championship and now I give also credit to all the players and who maintained and even raised that level higher so that Iranian basketball remains in such level,” he said.

Aside from Yakhchali himself, there’s players like Arsalan Kazemi, Mohammad Jamshidi, Mike Rostampour, Aaron Geramipoor, and Navid Rezaeifar that are those from a younger generation. There are the names, among others, that will be carrying the torch from Haddadi and Samad when the time comes.

“The transition has been going on for years, it wasn’t a sudden thing to happen so the adjustment was also gradual,” Yakhchali explained.

“Most of us already play with each other at club and national team level so we know what each player can do. I also played in China with Hamed in the same club which gave us even more time to connect on the court.”

“What [Hamed and Samad] were always telling us was to never forget how important it is to play for national team, to keep Iran on this level.”

“The adjustment came also from all our coaching staff through all these years. Slowly our roles got bigger and more important. In 2014, I wasn’t starting in games. It was my first experience of major competition and you see the transition to 2019 and the Tokyo Olympics. I started and had a set role on the team.”

“It’s the same for every one of my generation. Basketball evolves year by year and so does the way we play basketball on both ends of the floor. We have all types of players who can help the national team in their own way. We can play with a tall lineup or a small lineup. What I want to say is that we have the tools to play different style of basketball. What we are aiming is always to keep Iran on the highest level of competition and look forward to qualifying to higher rounds,” Yakhchali went on to say.

For Behnam Yakhchali and Iran, the current mission is straightforward.

"We need to be able to have good practices so that we can perform in best shape and form as a team. We will show the basketball spirit of Iran and have one thing on our mind which is to qualify for the World Cup. We won’t miss a beat,” he concluded.