The Korean men’s basketball team has discovered potential for young blood through an exhibition match against Japan. On top of that, they displayed pure sportsmanship cheering for the Japanese national team who will compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Japanese basketball fans are also applauding the Korean national team for its warm-up match against Japan’s request ahead of the Olympics and cheering for Japan’s good performance in the Olympics.
The Korean men’s basketball team, led by head coach Ahn Joon-ho, played a warm-up match against the Japanese basketball team in Tokyo on the 5th and 7th. In the two games under the name of the Softbank Cup, Korea won 85-84 in the first game, and Japan won 88-80 in the second game.
The result is encouraging for Korean basketball, which has been mired in the midst of the worst slump ever. At the Hangzhou Asian Games in September last year, Korea ranked seventh, the worst ever.
Korea is ranked 50th in the FIBA world rankings, 24 places below Asia’s powerhouse Japan (26th). Moreover, Japan has formed the best team ahead of the Paris Olympics this month, and is considered to be far ahead of Korea in terms of performance. Under Ahn Joon-ho, Korea formed a team of young players aged 24 on average, and displayed better-than-expected performance.
Young players such as Lee Jung-hyun (Sono), Yoo Ki-sang (LG), Lee Won-seok (Samsung), Yang Jae-min (Sendai), Lee Woo-suk (Hyundai Mobis), and Ha Yoon-ki (KT) announced their hope for the leap of Korean basketball with organic basketball amid a rapid transition between offense and defense.
Besides the games, Korean basketball was also beautiful. Korean players sincerely supported Japan for the Paris Olympics. In a video posted on the official social media of the Japanese national basketball team on the 8th, Korean players gathered around Yang Jae-min, who is active in the Japanese B-League, to cheer for the Japanese national team’s good performance in the Olympics, saying, “Akatsuki Japan, Kanbare (Cheer up).” It was a short 19-second video, but the Korean players’ cheerful cheering has been viewed by more than 4 million people as of the 10th and received more than 48,000 “like” hearts.
When the video became known, Japanese basketball fans thanked the Korean players. Warm comments such as “It’s nice to have such a Korea-Japan match,” “Cheering that makes me cry,” “I respect the Korean basketball team,” 안전토토사이트 “Thank you, the Korean national team, you were very strong,” and “Let’s go out together for the next World Cup.”
Japanese media “The Answer” reported the reaction of Japanese basketball fans on the 10th, saying, “Korea has been called up during the off-season even though it is not participating in the Olympics and has come to Japan,” adding, “The sound of gratitude from Japanese basketball fans does not stop.”