IBF Hoping to Hire Foreign Coach

Head of Iran’s Basketball Federation (IBF) Mahmoud Mashhoun said that the federation is hoping to bring European coaches for the national youth and adult teams.

Speaking to ISNA, he said, “We are preparing to shine in the Asian Championship which will be held next year.
“We have been in negotiation with a number of coaches from Germany, Italy, Serbia, Greece and Slovenia but nothing is yet clear.”
Referring to basketball league games, he added, “Because of financial problems, some teams could not show their top performance in the beginning of the league games. The main problem for almost all the 12 teams is financial.”

Many critics said that because the league does not have many top foreign players, the level of the games is decreasing. Commenting on this, he added, “Our domestic players are much more talented than the foreigners. In the last two seasons, young Iranian players were bench-warmers but in this season it is a different story. We have to give them time to be fully prepared for tough games. Many clubs such as Mahram, Zob Ahan and Petroshimi use young players and this will help the national squad. As the head of Iran’s Basketball Federation I am optimistic about the young players in the league.”

Speaking about West Asian Championship, he added, “Iran has 3 representatives in the prestigious continental showpiece which will be held in Lebanon. All of them are hoping to reach the final round of the games. Mahram is in Group B of the event and will play after Zob Ahan and Petroshimi. I hope they can hoist our flag in the championship.”