体坛英语新闻：Iran beats host to win its third Asian basketball title

MANILA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Iran proved to be too strong for hosts Philippines to conquer as the West Asian giants dominated the final of the 27th Asian Men's Basketball Championship at 85-71 here on Sunday and won their third title in six years with an unbeaten 9-0 record.

Hamed Haddadi, who led the All Star team of the tournament, led Iran with 29 points and 16 rebounds. He also earned the Most Valuable Player award.

Samad Nikkhah Bahrami finished with 19 points and seven assists. Mahdi Kamrany and Oshin Sahakian combined for 27 points. Sahakian also added 12 rebounds.

Philippines played the match missing their injured big man Marcus Douthit. Jayson William led the host with 18. But he and Alapag were the only two Philippine players who scored in double digits. Alapag took 13.

The runners-up finish is still the hosts' best result in the tournament in 28 years since they won the title in 1985.

Despite the silver medal, the Philippines also nabbed one of the three slots for next year's FIBA World Cup in Spain.

The other two berths went to championship winners Iran and South Korea, who beat Chinese Taipei in the third place classification match.