The South Korean men’s basketball team, led by coach Ahn Joon-ho, will play a friendly match against the Japanese national team at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on the 5th and 7th. The two teams held a warm-up match in South Korea ahead of the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, and moved to Japan this year.
Korea (50th), which is lagging behind Japan (26th) in the FIBA world rankings, is expected to face a challenging showdown at this year’s event. While Japan has the best team ahead of its participation in the 2024 Paris Olympics, Korea has not made it to the Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. 메이저놀이터
Rui Hachimura of the Los Angeles Lakers and Yuta Watanabe of the Memphis are also on the list of 16 Japanese players. Other than naturalized player Josh Hawkinson, Keisei Tomina of the University of Nebraska who recently showed outstanding skills in the U.S. college basketball were also selected.
The average height of Japan is 194.1cm and Korea is 193.9cm, and Japan has seven players over 200cm and Korea has four players.
Unlike Japan, which is preparing for the Paris Olympics, Korea has set up its national team mainly consisting of young players after the end of the KBL season. Among the 12, six were players from the 2000s, and five of the remaining six were also born in 1999.
Coach Ahn Joon-ho said in an interview before leaving the country on the 3rd, “We are in the lowest physical condition after the KBL season is over and past the break. I asked the players to stick to the basics, such as defense and rebound, and to do their best to maintain their concentration no matter how many minutes they spend on the court,” vowing to promote themselves, “As these players are the present and future of our men’s basketball, it will be an opportunity to develop further if they gain good experience against active NBA players.”