TEHRAN (2016 FIBA Asia Challenge) - Towering center Hamed Haddadi is in Iran’s list of the 21-man preliminary squad for the FIBA Asia Challenge, the country’s Basketball federation has announced on their official website.

Haddadi, who recently captained Team Melli at the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Turin, was a lynchpin in the side that won the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup in China where he was voted MVP of the tournament.

Other players to have featured in OQT Turin last month and who are in the provisional squad include Oshin Sahakian, Sajjad Mashaiekhi, Mohammad Jamshidi, Mohammad Hassanzadeh, and the energetic Behnam Yakhchali. Arsalan Kazemi, an important member of the sides that played at the 2010 and 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cups, is also among the 21 named.

Samad Bahrami, Mahdi Kamrani, Asghar Kardoust and Hamed Afagh however are not included in the list.

Samad was voted the MVP of the 2012 FIBA Asia Cup in Tokyo and was also part of the team that finished third in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha-Hunan.

The preliminary list also includes young candidates Mohammad Yousof Vand, Ali Allahverdi and Salar Monji. All three were in the Iran team that played at the 2015 U19 World Championship in Crete.

As part of their preparations for the FIBA Asia Challenge, Iran participated in the 38^th William Jones Cup in Taipei city where they finished 4^th with a 5-3 record.

The FIBA Asia Challenge will give the Top Five finishers an extra berth for their respective sub-zones in the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup, the new name of the continental FIBA Asia Championship.

 FIBA