Korea’s women’s basketball team determined to go to Olympics

Korea’s women’s basketball team determined to go to Olympics. August. 26, 2015 07:18. why@donga.com.

Korea’s national women basketball team had suffered a crushing defeat against the Japanese team at the last preliminary match held in Ankara, Turkey, in July 2012 that decided 5-8th rankings in the London Olympic Games. The Korean team had ended its consecutive appearances in the Olympics since 1996. This was only to be expected, since there were not of noises during the selection of the national team coach, which resulted in wrong selection of players and faltering teamwork.

To recover the impaired reputation and win tickets for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the women’s team is soon leaving to China. The 26th FIBA Asian Women`s Basketball Championships competition will be held from Friday to September 5 at Wuhan, China, where the No. 1 ranking team will win the Olympics ticket. The second and third ranking teams will be given the chance to play at the Olympics last preliminary match to be held next year. Korea has to secure at least the third place.

Coach Wi Sung-woo, who is currently spending his time in the court all day long, said, “This is our first big event after replacement of generations. I’m curious how our players will perform. More young players have been added and I’m sure that the team has gained physical strength.”

The national women’s basketball team had grabbed No. 1 title in 20 years at the Incheon Asian Games last year. Coach Wi was the contributor, who also led the Woori Bank team win for the third straight year at the 2014-2015 women’s pro basketball championships. When asked if he’s having a hard time being both coach of the national and pro teams, Wi said, “I’ve never thought that way. Though I’m not sure whether I will be allowed to head the national team next year, being able to compete in Olympics is my biggest dream as coach.”

Currently at the 12th ranking in FIBA, Korea will meet Japan (15th ranking) on Saturday and China (8th) on Monday. Since it is superior to Thailand, Taiwan and India that Korea will meet afterwards, the first two games with potential winners are very important.

“China has a home country advantage, while in Japan there is Tokashiki Ramu who is performing very well at the WNBA. We lack international experience with the only player with experience at the Olympics is Kim Jung-eun. However, this could serve as an advantage, since our players really want to play at the Olympics. While winning the No. 1 ticket can be challenging, we are determined to do our utmost.”