TEHRAN – Iran started the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers with an 82-66 win over debutant Bahrain on Friday in Tehran’s Azadi Hall.

Mohammad Jamshidi led Iran with 21 points, while Ahmed Salman Ramadhan Haji scored 17 points for Bahrain.

Iran will travel to Manama to meet Bahrain three days later in Group D.

Syria and Kazakhstan are also in the group.

The next edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 will take place from Aug. 25 to Sept. 10, 2023 in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines with seven nations from Asia and Oceania qualifying for the 32-country field.

The 2023 FIBA World Cup will serve as qualification for the 2024 Summer Olympics, where the top two teams from each of the Americas and Europe, and the top team from each of Africa, Asia and Oceania, will qualify alongside the tournament's host France.