The Iranians started off their campaign with a convincing win over Pauian, 100-80, on Day 1 of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2016.

James White and Gerald Robinson, Jr. led the way for Petrochimi, pairing up for 56 points. National team members Mohammad Hassanzadeh and Oshin Sahakian also did well with 10 points each. Pauian was paced by Quincy Davis, who tallied 22 points.
Petrochimi has been pitted against Al Riyadi (LIB), ONGC (IND), Al Rayyan (QAT) and Pauian (TPE) in Pool A.
Pool B consists of Al Shorta (IRQ), Barsy Atyrau (KAZ), Westports Malaysia Dragons (MAS), Al Ahli (UAE) and Xinjiang Flying Tigers (CHN).
The nine-day event will be played in the city of Chenzhou-Hunan, China, from October 8 to 16.
The Preliminary round of the competition will be played in a round robin format, with every team taking on its four opponents in its respective group. The top four teams from each group will then advance to the quarterfinals.
The winners of the quarters will advance to the Semi-Final, while the losing teams in the quarters will play 5-8 classification games.
The 24th edition was held in 2013 in Amman, Jordan, where Iranian club Foolad Mahan Isfahan emerged victorious.
 The Fiba Asia Champions Cup that started way back in 1981 was a yearly event since 1990 before being stopped in 2013. After a two-year break the club-level championship returns to Fiba's regular competition format.