Men's Basketball After Hangzhou Disaster Challenge to Restore Honors at Asia Cup

The Korean national basketball team, led by head coach Ahn Joon-ho, will play an away match against Australia in Group A of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in Bendigo, Australia, on the 22nd.

Earlier, the Korean men's basketball team participated in the Hangzhou Asian Games under coach Choo Il-seung, but left a disappointment by finishing the tournament in seventh place, the lowest ranking in the Asian Games. 사설 토토사이트

South Korea, which was caught up in the Japanese second-tier national team in the group stage, was eventually defeated by China, the host of the quarterfinals, and returned home empty-handed for the first time in 17 years since fifth place in the Doha Games in 2006.

The basketball team, which ranked seventh in the Asian Games, finished the tournament with a lower ranking table than the previous lowest record of fifth in the Doha Games.

South Korea, whose coach Choo Il-seung stepped down after the Asian Games, is preparing for another new leap under Ahn Joon-ho's new coach system.

In particular, Ahn is preparing to restore his reputation by breathing fresh air into the national team, including the appointment of naturalized player Ra Gun-ah (KCC) as the captain.

The 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers will be divided into six groups, with the second place in each group advancing to the finals.

Among the six countries that finished third in the group, four countries with good performance will join the finals and 16 countries will play in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup.

The 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Final will be held in Saudi Arabia in August 2025.

Korea, which is ranked 51st in the FIBA rankings, is in Group A along with Australia (4th), Indonesia (74th) and Thailand (91st). The team will play home-and-away preliminaries until February 2025.

In terms of objective performance, South Korea is most likely to rank second in the group after Australia. However, in the Asian Games, teams that are considered to be weak in objective performance should not let down their guard.

In particular, Australia, Korea's first opponent, is ranked fourth in the world, and there is no rival in the Asian region. Above all, Australia has won both the Asian Cup titles in 2017 and 2022.

Active National Basketball Association (NBA) players are not playing against South Korea this time, but it is clear that they are difficult to overcome due to their objective record.

However, if the atmosphere subsides due to a crushing defeat against Australia, it needs to return with a convincing performance as it could affect the home game against Thailand on the 25th.