Haddadi headlines Iran's provisional squad for OQT

TEHRAN (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) - Iran will have the towering presence of Hamed Haddadi at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Turin, the country's basketball federation has announced.

Haddadi, a lynchpin in the side since 2007 when Iran won the FIBA Asia Championship to clinch a spot in the Beijing Games, played a big part in the team's run to third place in last year's continental event. He also appeared at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain.

Other players to have featured in Changsha-Hunan last year and who are in the provisional squad include veterans Oshin Sahakian, Sajad Mashaiekhi, Mohammad Jamshidi, Mohammad Hasanzadeh, Asghar Kardoust and 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 23 named.

There are significant absentees from the list of players announced. Samad Nikkhah, Mahdi Kamrani, Hamed Afagh, Javad Davari and Saeed Davarpanah are not in the provisional squad and look set to miss the OQT in Italy.

Samad was a member of the All-Star Five at last year's FIBA Asia Championship and had a big performance in Iran's win over Japan in the Third-Place Game.

Among the young candidates are Mohammad Yousof Vand, Navid Rezaeifar, Ali Allahverdi and Salar Monji. All four were in the Iran team that played at the 2015 U19 World Championship in Crete.

Iran will take on Mexico and Greece in Group A in Turin. A top-two- finish would throw them into a Semi-Final against one of the Group B sides, either Italy, Croatia or Tunisia. The Semi-Final winners will battle it out for a spot in the Rio de Janeiro Games.

To prepare for the OQT, Iran will play in the Atlas Sport tournament. The team will also play against Latvia and New Zealand in late June.

Iran 23-player provisional squad for 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Turin, Italy: Hamed Haddadi, Oshin Sahakian, Rouzbeh Arghavan, Farid Aslani, Ali Allahverdi, Mohammad Jamshidi, Mohammad Hassanzadeh, Vahid Dalirzohan, Adnan Doraghi, Hossein Rahmati, Navid Rezaeifar, Arman Zangeneh, Mohammad Shahrian, Amir Sedighi, Saleh Foroutan, Asghar Kardoust, Arsalan Kazemi, Sajjad Mashaiekhi, Rasool Mozafari, Salar Monji, Meisam Mirzaei, Behnam Yakhchali and Mohammad Yousof Vand.

FIBA