Japan registered an upset win over Iran with a stunning scoreline of 97-89 in the FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifier in Tehran on Thursday.

This latest win was their sixth in a row following a string of four defeats early in their campaign. Japan are now just one game away from qualification.

Earlier, in the opening quarter, Japan's Makoto Hiejima nailed a triple to increase the gap to four. Mohammad Jamshidi responded with a lay-up to reduce the deficit to two but Ryusei Shinoyama later made it 34-28.

In the second quarter, the visitors continued to roll as Daiki Tanaka sunk a three to bag 9 points from the game.

Tanaka found Joji Takeuchi in the third quarter for a lay-up to put Japan 12 points ahead.

The big veteran stepped up again, en route to his match-haul of 17 points.

Trailing by 18 in the final quarter, Iran's Michael Rostampour hit back-to-back triples to cut the deficit to 12 but that wasn't enough. The gung-ho Japanese were able to hold on to their lead and eventually managed to win the game 97-89. Elsewhere in Group F, Kazakhstan lost out to Australia at home. In the Group F standings, Australia are the only team who have already qualified with a 9-1 record and are currently the table-toppers with 21 points.

Japan are following them in second place after their win over Iran and will advance if they win on Sunday against Qatar, who are currently sitting at the bottom of the table.

After their two defeats against the Japanese, Iran are third with 18 points while the Philippines and Kazakhstan are ranked fourth and fifth in the table.

(Top image by Liu Shaozhen)