A tense match during the fourth window of the FIBA 2027 World Cup qualifiers in Asia ended with the Philippines defeating Iran 68:56. The game took place on Sunday at the packed Mall of Asia Arena in Tehran.
Previously, the Philippine national team had lost to its West Asian opponents twice in the FIBA stages, including a match in the second round of the 2019 World Cup Qualifiers held in November 2018, which ended 78:70.
Thanks to this victory, the Gilas Pilipinas team improved its record to 4-4 and, more importantly, regained serious chances of entering the top three of Group E and automatically qualifying for next year's World Cup in Qatar.
In the match, Kai Sotto once again demonstrated high productivity, scoring 13 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. The top scorers for the Philippines were Dwight Ramos and Juan Gomez de Llano, each scoring 16 points. For Iran, Mobin Sheikhi scored the most points with 21 points.