A debate is raging in the basketball world over the "Hangzhou disaster" that saw the Korean men's basketball team finish seventh at the Asian Games.
The men's basketball team, led by Chu Il-seung, defeated Japan 74-55 in the men's basketball 7th-8th place match at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games at Zhejiang University Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on Saturday. South Korea finished the tournament in seventh place, its lowest-ever finish. Their previous lowest finish was fifth at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
A 77-83 loss to Japan in their final group game against a triple-team was the deciding factor. After falling to the Round of 12, Korea was helpless in both the quarterfinals against China (70-84 loss) and the 5th-8th place match against Iran (82-89).
The damage to Asia's seventh-ranked team is done. It's time for the basketball world to come together and take a hard look at why this happened and make bold systemic changes. However, Korean basketball is still at the level of blaming each other for the poor performance.
A typical example of this is the "basketball circle" rumor. Rumors spread in the basketball world that "basketball elders, including Bang Yeol, the former president of the Korean Basketball Association, wrote and delivered a letter to coach Chu Il-seung ahead of the Asian Games, saying, 'Don't select Lee Dae-sung and Choi Jun-yong because they were photographed by FIBA referees.'"
Bang Yeol told OSEN, "I've never heard of it. I tried to get in touch with Chu Il-seung to deliver the power analysis of each country that I wrote as a member of the FIBA Technical Research Committee before the Asian Games, but I couldn't reach him. I was unable to deliver the data. He did not call or text me during the tournament. After the tournament, Chu contacted me first to congratulate me and say 'good job,'" he said, refuting the rumors.
South Korea lost to New Zealand 78-88 in the quarterfinals of the Asia Cup last year. Captain Lee Dae-sung was ejected for a technical foul after getting into a nervous breakdown with an opponent. Choi Jun-yong, who became agitated in the final minutes of the game, 먹튀검증 was also ejected for protesting the referee's decision by making a money-counting gesture. It is believed that both players were filmed by the international referee.
Former president Bang Yeol said, "It's been three years since I stepped down as president of the Basketball Association. It's unfortunate that the two players acted in a way that shouldn't be seen as national team members. However, I never gave any instructions to not select them."
Another basketball player, B, said, "Before the selection of the national team roster, the Performance Improvement Committee was told that 'the elders do not like Lee Dae-sung and Choi Jun-yong. It is true that it affected the selection." This means that former chairman Bang Yeol influenced the actual selection, whether willingly or unwillingly.
Opinions are also divided among basketball players over the statement that a Korean player was filmed by a FIBA referee. Basketball player C said, "FIBA is a professional organization. It's understandable that the referee had bad feelings towards Choi Jun-yong at the time. But for an entire group of referees to collude and retaliate against South Korea with blatantly biased calls in the next international tournament? That's not common sense. Would a referee do that if his career depended on it? We don't even know which referee will be assigned to the Korean game."
D, a basketball player, said, "Even if Lee Dae-sung and Choi Jun-yong were taken by the referee, it's the coach's role to keep them if they have the skills. It doesn't make sense if he didn't pick the players he needed because he was afraid of the referee. In the end, it was Chu Il-seung's responsibility for not being able to control the two players."
Chu was appointed as the head coach of the men's national basketball team in May last year, and his contract ended after the Asian Games. South Korea will now begin qualifying for the Asia Cup 2025 in February next year. South Korea, which is in Group A with Australia, Thailand and Indonesia, is scheduled to play Australia on Feb. 22.
But after losing its captain in one of the worst disasters in its history, South Korea is torn apart by infighting and drifting aimlessly on the high seas.
