Haddadi, Kazemi and Yakhchali Lead Iran at 2023 World Cup: FIBA
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Veterans Hamed Haddadi, Arsalan Kazemi, and Behnam Yakhchali are headline names in Iran's training camp ahead of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, fiba.basketball reported.
Iran has also included exciting youth national team star Mohammad Amini on the 15-man list of players that will begin the new phase of workouts under coach Hakan Demir at the Azadi Basketball Hall on August 8.
Iran had previously announced a 27-man preliminary squad that included another leading player of the current generation, Mohammad Jamshidi, yet he is not on the trimmed-down list.
Haddadi, Iran's all-time great center, will be appearing at the FIBA Basketball World Cup for the fourth time. A two-time Olympian (2008, 2021), Haddadi, now 38, showed he remains a force at last summer's FIBA Asia Cup in Jakarta, where he averaged 15.8 points and 14.3 rebounds.
Yakhchali strengthened his reputation as a terrific scorer at the FIBA Asia Cup 2022, averaging a team-best 21.0 points per game. His 19.1 points per game was third highest in the Asia Qualifiers.
Both Haddadi and Kazemi are coming back from injuries.
