Rice University junior forward Arsalan Kazemi has helped lead Iran into the quarterfinals of the FIBA Asia Championship being played in Wuhan, China.
Both China and Iran cruised through pool play at the championship with 6-0 records. Iran won all six of its pool-play games by double figures and the team's average margin of victory has been 45 points.
Iran will begin the championship round on Friday, taking on Jordan. Game time is 1:30 p.m. local (12:30 a.m. Central). The winner of the FIBA Asia Championship qualifies for the 2012 Olympic Games while the runner-up and third-place teams will advance to the 12-team FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament next July where the final three teams for the London Olympics will be determined.
Through six games of pool play, Kazemi is averaging 10.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while shooting 63.1 percent from the field (24-of-38). He also has 12 assists and eight steals.
that's amazing! i would have loved to see the Iran vs. China game!
Daniel,
After the 6-0 start, Iran was upset by Jordan in the FIBA Asia quarterfinals, 88-84. The Iranians did comeback to win its final to consolation games to go 8-1 at the tournament but had their hopes of qualifying for the 2012 Olympics dashed by their lone loss. In nine games, Kazemi averaged 12 points and 8.9 rebounds while shooting 65 percent from the field. He had 13 points and 16 rebounds in Iran’s loss to Jordan.