India went down fighting against reigning champions Iran 88-66 in a group match of the 28th FIBA Asia Basketball Championship for Men here today.
Iran had a fabulous opening quarter, scoring 27-11 in their favour, which forced India to play catch up for the rest of their second preliminary round Group A match.
India took the fight to Iran in the second quarter, outscoring their world number 17 opponents 19-12. The third and fourth quarters too were very closely fought, with Iran barely outscoring India by single digits in each of these ten minute sessions.
In the end, the first quarter deficit proved to be too much as India lost the game.
