Iran basketball win Portugal four-team tournament

 Iran national basketball team claimed the title of the Oliveira de Azeméis International Tournament.

Iran Press/Iran news: Team Melli defeated hosts Portugal 74-70 in their third match.

Iran had already defeated Denmark and Slovakia in the tournament, Tehran Times reported.

Iran will leave Portugal for Russia to take part in another four-team tournament with participation of Russia, Greece and Hungary, scheduled for August 8 to 11.

Mehran Shahintab’s team will also partake in a tournament in China, where they will face Nigeria, Montenegro and Poland from August 19 - 25.

Iran has been drawn with world’s second-ranked Spain, Puerto Rico and Tunisia in Group C of the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

The competition will be held in China from 31 Aug. to 15 Sept.

The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams.

Rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, this edition will be the first FIBA Basketball World Cup since 1967 that will not occur in the same year as the FIFA World Cup, but a year following the latter.

Also, the group stage will expand from 24 to 32 teams. The top eight teams, including Japan as the hosts of the 2020 Summer Olympics (and the top two teams from each of the Americas and Europe; and the top team from each of Africa, Asia and Oceania) will qualify for the men's basketball event in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Both the Czech Republic and Montenegro will make their first ever appearance in the FIBA World Cup.

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