Men’s basketball ‘Golden Generation’ is ready… FIBA Asia Cup Opening on the 5th
Incheon International Airport on the 1st. Many fans gathered at the airport to see the Korean men’s basketball team leaving Jedda, Saudi Arabia. For them, Ahn Joon -ho, the team manager, left a word, “Sey Goodbye!” Do you need a phrase? It sounded like a ‘cool’ determination to fight well.
The Korean men’s basketball team is finally on the 2025 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Cup (5-17). The four evaluation exhibitions held ahead of the Asian Cup are attracting more attention than any other year.
Korea, which belongs to Group A, starts with Australia (Australia) at 5 pm on the 6th at 5 pm in the group stage qualifiers, and will deal with Catar on the 8th and Lebanon at 0 am on the 11th (0 pm) on the 11th. All are based on Korean visuals.
Korea aims to advance to the semifinals in this competition. The players say, “All the competitions are the goal of winning,” but it’s true that it is a difficult fight. Unlike other teams where naturalized players have a large number of players, Korea is composed of only domestic players. Thirteen in height.
It was organized in the ‘Joe of Death’ and did not follow Daejin luck. Group A is the second place where other countries are fighting for the overwhelming stronger Australia (7th in the world). Lebanon (29th) increased confidence as the Asian Cup Best player, Wael Arakji, which was expected to miss. Qatar (87) has a lower world ranking than Korea (53th), but has good tactical flexibility and naturalized players.
However, Korea is also different from before. ‘Overseas’ Lee Hyun -joong (Nagasaki Belka, Japan) and Yeo Jun -seok (Seattle University) joined together in four years, and the future of Korean basketball, such as Lee Jung -hyun (Goyang Sono) and organic Award (Changwon LG), is playing in the best condition. The high problem was unfortunate, but in the last evaluation, three -point shots and fast airborne conversion showed strengths. Lee Hyun -joong’s experience in the Australian League is also a great force. Lee Hyun -joong said, “We will tell the team a lot of scouting and tactical parts of Australian players.”
Korean men’s basketball has not been able to achieve clear results at the 2018 Jakarta and Palembang Asian Games bronze medals. Can this competition be the beginning of a leap forward ahead of the Asian Games (Japan-Nagoya) next year? Yeo Jun -seok was prepared to say, “There is no competition to go.”
By Nam Ji -eun, reporter myviollet@hani.co.kr
