RSS Feed

Tech Support

The Korean national basketball team will hold its first international competition under new coach Ahn Jun-ho. Attention is focusing on whether it will be able to send a signal of generational change, leaving behind the failure of last year's Hangzhou Asian Games, which had poor performance.

Korea, led by Ahn, is set to play the first and second rounds of qualifying matches for the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup. The team will play an away match against Australia on Tuesday, before having a home match against Thailand in Wonju, Gangwon Province on Wednesday. Korea, which is ranked 51st in the FIBA rankings, will compete in the same group with Australia fourth, Indonesia 74th and Thailand 91st. Korea needs to finish within the second place in the group to confirm its advance to the finals.

Korean men's basketball team only ranked seventh at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year when it sought to win a medal. The key to this preliminary match will be whether Ahn, who has taken the helm of the Korean national team, will lay the groundwork for enhancing the competitiveness of Korean basketball on the international stage.

Ahn emphasized teamwork ahead of the preliminary match. The national team's slogan is "One Team Korea." Ahn pledged that he would display speed basketball by converting the team's offense and defense speed.

The upcoming national team is drawing attention as a large number of players in their early and mid-20s have joined the team. Ahn's plan is to fill the vacancies of veteran players such as Kim Sun-hyung and Oh Se-geun SK, who have represented Korean basketball, with young people.

Lee Jung-hyun Sono, who is the top scorer among Korean players in this season's KBL average of 21.5 points, Ha Yoon-ki KT and Lee Woo-suk Hyundai Mobis, who have become key players in their team, and Oh Jae-hyun SK, who is good at defense, are among the young players born in 1999. Rookie Park Moo-bin Hyundai Mobis, who was born in 2001, also wore the national flag for the first time in his career.

Players with extensive experience in the national team, including Kim Jong-kyu, Kang Sang-jae DB, Yang Hong-seok LG and Song Kyo-chang KCC, are expected to lead the team. Byun Joon-hyung Sangju Sangmu, who contributed to Chung's integrated win in the KBL last season, will also join the team to help.

Born in 1989, Ra Gun-ah, a naturalized player who became the eldest member of the Korean national team, served as the captain. "Thank you for trusting me and making me the captain," Ra said through the Korea Basketball Association. "I will do my best as I receive a lot of trust."