TOKYO – Iran started the 2020 Paralympic Games with an 81-39 loss against Australia in Group B of the 2020 Paralympic Games at the Ariake Arena on Thursday.

Brett Stibners top-scored for Australia with 21 points and seven rebounds, while Bill Latham scored 15 points, Tristan Knowles (12), and Shaun Norris (11) also hit double figures.

Mohammadhassan Sayari led Iran with 22 points.

Iran will meet defending champions the U.S. on Friday, Tehran Times correspondent Masoud Hossein reports from Tokyo.

“We didn’t expect to lose by the result. We have a difficult task because our Group B teams are very strong,” Iran coach Abbas Aghakouchaki said.

“The other teams have held so many warm-up matches before the Games began. We learned from the loss and from now on we concentrate on our next matches,” he added.