Haddadi Proud of Playing for Iran Basketball Team
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran basketball team center Hamed Haddadi says that he is proud of playing for his country.
He is now participating in his eighth straight FIBA Asia Cup. He's taken part in the continental tournament many times, a journey that began for the 37-year-old way back in the 2005 edition in Qatar.
“It's my eighth? I didn't know,” said the sure-fire Hall of Famer in an interview with fiba.basketball. “I feel so proud playing for my country. Any time my country wants me, I show up. I play for my people back home, and I just want to make them happy.
“A lot of teams have changed. A lot of teams came with their strongest rosters. They want to have good results. And I think we have a tough, tough job even in our group, you know,” the former NBA cager offered.
Iran, though, managed to ace their first test Wednesday night, beating Syria, 80-67, for a triumphant start to their campaign.
Haddadi even achieved a personal milestone. By finishing with 11 points, he now has over 800 career points in the Asia Cup. But ever the team player, the legendary center deflected much of the credit to his teammates.
“I love to compete every time. I'm excited for any tournament. I try my best to compete every game, come in the game 100 percent and push my teammates to (play) better defense and offense,” said Haddadi, who also had 20 rebounds, when asked about his accomplishment.
“I'm a little bit old, I need my young players to push me and help me and, of course, in (the) match against Syria, they helped me a lot,” he added.