Its While Korean Basketball Stopped, Japan was the Strongest

While Korean Basketball Stopped, Japan was the Strongest…

3 World Cup wins, direct entry to the Olympics

Most of the main players are in their 20s and are from home and abroad…

European, African and South American teams win in a row

FIBA World Cup

The 2023 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Cup clearly shows the changes that have occurred in the Asian basketball landscape.

China and Iran were previously considered the strongest powers in Asia.

China, which has a national love for basketball, maintained its competitiveness by producing a steady stream of tall players,

while Iran maintained its hegemony with 218cm center Hamed Haddadi.

Asia Cup

In fact, until 2015, before Australia and New Zealand participated, 카지노사이트

the FIBA ​​Asia Cup (formerly the Asian Championship) was mainly won by China and Iran.

From 2001 to 2015, China stood at the top five times and Iran three times.

Korea and the Philippines, which compete fiercely with them, were classified as ‘strong’.

Middle Eastern teams, such as Lebanon and Jordan, have also actively used naturalized players to increase their weight class.

The team that beat them all and smiled at this World Cup was Japan.

Japan pulled off an upset by beating Finland 98-88 in the group stage on the 27th of last month.

National Basketball Association

Finland, led by former Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen of the National Basketball Association (NBA),

is a powerhouse that reached the quarterfinals of the European Basketball Championships last year.

Japan, which was behind by 18 points at the end of the third quarter,

showed its courage and achieved a dramatic comeback victory.

Japan defeated Venezuela 86-77 in the ranking match and defeated Cape Verde 80-71 in the final match.

They achieved one win each against teams from Europe, South America, and Africa.

Olympics

Japan, which finished the tournament with 3 wins and 2 losses,

secured a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics, of which only one ticket was distributed to Asia.

The team with the best performance in this World Cup will represent the Asian continent at the Olympics, with Lebanon having only 2 wins (3 losses) and the Philippines and China only having 1 win (4 losses).

Iran and Jordan were completely defeated.

NBA Players

These teams added former and current NBA players such as Jordan Clarkson (Philippines),

Kyle Anderson (China), Omari Spellman (Lebanon), and Ronde Hollis-Jefferson (Jordan) as naturalized players, but they failed to surpass Japan.

Japan, which participated in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 as the host country,

confirmed its participation in two consecutive competitions.

It has been 48 years since the 1976 Montreal Games that the team has participated in an away Olympics.

NBA Los Angeles (LA) Lakers forward Rui Hachimura, who is considered to have the greatest strength,

achieved this achievement even though he did not participate for reasons of adapting to his team.

World Championships

Korea also won three times at the 1994 Canada World Championships (now the World Cup).

However, at that time, 8 games were guaranteed, and the team lost all of them in the group stage.

They defeated Egypt twice in the ranking match, and had a difficult win against Angola, 75-71.

In the 1998 Greece tournament, they lost all 5 games, and until the 2014 Spain tournament (5 losses),

they had not even been on the World Cup stage for 16 years.

1st Victory

It was their first win since 1994 when they defeated Ivory Coast 80-71 in the final match of the 2019 China Tournament (1 win, 4 losses).

Korea did not participate in the regional qualifiers due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) and did not advance to the World Cup finals.

Due to security reasons, as the host country, Syria, has been banned from traveling to,

they were unable to participate in the pre-qualifying competition for the Paris Olympics,

which opened on the 12th of last month,

completely eliminating the possibility of qualifying for the Olympics.

To compete with teams from outside Asia,

they will have to wait until 2027 for the next World Cup.

Korean Basketball

While Korean basketball was stuck, Japan was steadily strengthening its internal strength.

Looking at the team, there is a harmony of players from home and abroad.

Recruiting overseas talent also went smoothly.

League’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Yuki Kawamura (22), Makoto Hiejima (33),

Yuki Togashi (30) represent the Japanese B League.

Overseas Players

There are also strong overseas players, including active NBA player Yuta Watanabe (28),

Yudai Baba (27), who played in the G League (NBA lower league)

with Australia, and Keisei Dominaga (22), who plays in the National Collegiate Sports Association (NCAA).

Josh Hawkinson (28), a 208 cm tall big man, joined as a naturalized player in the center position,

which was considered a chronic weakness.

Most of the key players, including Hachimura, who was born in 1998,

are in their 20s, so there is little chance that their strength will decline for the time being.