Men’s Basketball Challenge for Gold in 9 Years. The first match against Indonesia on the 26th
The South Korean men’s basketball team will take the first step in its quest for redemption at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.
The men’s basketball team, led by head coach Chu Il-seung, will open their campaign with a 6:30 p.m. (KST) Group D opener against Indonesia at Zhejiang University’s Zijin River Campus in Hangzhou, China. The team will then face Qatar on Nov. 28 and Japan on Nov. 30 for the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
South Korea will be looking to win its fifth gold medal at the tournament and its first in nine years since Incheon 2014.레고토토
The Koreans will be without Song Kyo-chang (Commerce), who has been the nucleus of their offense alongside top Korean forward Oh Se-geun (SK) and defender Moon Sung-gon (KT).
Coach Chu announced a switch to guard basketball instead of his preferred forward style of play by selecting Byun Jun-hyung (Commerce) as a backup.
Last season’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Kim Sun-hyung, Heo Hoon (Commerce) and Lee Woo-seok (Hyundai Mobis) are the mainstays of the squad, while Korea’s best shooter Jeon Sung-hyun (Sono) is expected to contribute as well.
The conditions are not bad for the team to win its first gold medal in nine years. The Asian Games are preceded by the FIBA World Cup, where many of the top teams will be absent or minus key players.
Japan, which qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, will be without a number of key players from the World Cup. Lebanon, last year’s FIBA Asia Cup runner-up, did not send a team to the Asian Games due to domestic commitments. Led by Wael Araji, considered one of the best guards in Asia, Lebanon is one of the strongest teams in the region, but will not be competing in the tournament.
China also lost center Zhou Qi to a World Cup injury, and Iran lost 6-foot-9 center Hamed Haddadi to retirement.
One of the favorites to challenge South Korea for the title is Jordan.
Jordan has been bolstered by the addition of naturalized NBA player Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who also played in the KBL last season.