Men's basketball: Amazing fightback - but Jordan fall

A much more convincing victory had seemed on the cards midway through the third quarter when IR Iran piled on the points, scoring 18 of the 22 points in the opening five minutes to establish a commanding 61-36 lead.

However they hadn't counted on Jordan coach Mario Palma's timeout resulting in an amazing reversal of fortunes as his players drew inspiration from their passionate flag-waving supporters to come storming back from a game-high 27 point deficit. Every Iranian miss or Jordan basket was greeted by huge cheers from the partisan crowd, who leapt to their feet as the lead was gradually eaten into, a 15-point run helping Jordan to end the quarter only 11 points adrift at 67-56.

They weren't finished there though with Enver Soobzokov and Islam Abbas stepping up to shoulder responsibility with captain Zaid Al Khas on the bench after picking up three personal fouls as Jordan cut the deficit to just five points with four minutes 40 seconds of the physical game remaining.

However this was as close as the Jordanians got to their first ever medal in the sport as, despite having star playmaker Mahdi Kamrany to a knee injury seconds later, IR Iran scored a couple of quick baskets to ease any nerves that were setting in.

The margin remained around 10 points until the final minute, Jordan simply unable to pull off what would have ranked among the greatest comebacks of all time, leaving their players and fans exhausted and distraught at the final buzzer.

At the other end the Iranians went wild, grabbing a giant flag from their tiny support group, and running around the court with it. Captain Karam Ahmadian, draped in the flag, knelt down to kiss the four corners of the court before being carried shoulder high by his emotional teammates after playing his last game before retiring.

IR Iran's Alireza Hondarsdoost said: "We did this for our captain. I think he was the best player on the court."

Commenting on Jordan's spectacular fightback, he added: "Our players thought the game was over. It was a very bad mistake. We thought we had done enough. We did enough to hold on.

"It is very good for me. It is good for my teammates who can carry on from here. I am leaving the army too so I can carry on with my education in economics. So I have two reasons to be happy."

Jordan's Sous Wessam paid an emotional tribute to their fans.

He said: "It feels horrible. We came here to win a medal. We wanted gold but couldn't get that. Now we have missed a bronze.

"We apologise to the Jordan fans. They were unbelievable. We love them and thank them a lot. They are the most loyal fans I have ever seen in basketball."

Wessam added of their fightback: "We didn't come out and play hard enough at the start of 3rd quarter. But then we fought back as we always do. We got them down to five points. We wanted to fight for Jordan. We had done it before but couldn't quite get it done this time. We were down too much."

When the match began there had been little to suggest such an exciting finale was in store, the tensions before tip off and in the early minutes clear for all to see in a first quarter littered with errors, particularly by Jordan as they tried to force the pass inside with little success.

This wasn't the only tactic that let Jordan down early only though, as their shooting did with only six from 17 shots sunk in the opening quarter. However to be fair, IR Iran fared little better with only eight from 16 to lead 21-16 at its conclusion.

The physical encounter continued at pace in the second with Jordan persisting with the tactic of shooting from long range, one they didn't reap the rewards from with only five of 16 three-pointers counting in the first half - they would end the match with a ratio of only nine from 28.

IR Iran were more selective and successful with six from nine, including a perfect four from four by point guard Kamrany, who ended the half with a game high 15 points, two more than Jordan's leading scorer Al Khas.

Three fouls though saw Kamrany sit out the end of the half, which ended with IR Iran leading 43-32, the difference coming from an 11-point run midway through the quarter.

Kamrany though returned to end the game as the leading Iranian scorer with 19, one more than Ahmadian. However the honour of the game's top scorer went to Abbas with 21, although he ended up lying on the floor at the end close to tears.

Sadly for him and the huge Jordanian contingent in the crowd there was to be no first ever Asian Games medal in the sport, although they could be proud of the effort they gave for their country.

One thing is certain, the men's final between China and Qatar has a lot to live up to after this emotional rollercoaster.

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006