South Korea booked a win over Chinese Taipei to clinch the FIBA Asia Championship bronze medal along with the last ticket to the FIBA World Cup next year in Spain.
Elder statesman Kim Joo-sung and coach Yoo Jae Hak hopes that this win will help solve the problem of basketball’s waning popularity in South Korea.
“Since the Asian Games, we’ve lost a lot. Basketball became less famous. We tried to win and this time we actually won and got the ticket to Spain so we’re happy to see that,” said Kim after finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds in the bronze medal game.
Kim is the only player on the current team was part of the last South Korean team that played in the World Championships in 1998.
“Like Kim Joo-sung said, Korean basketball became less famous. Now, because we were winning, Korean basketball became more famous,” said the coach.
“All the fans are watching this basketball event.”
Traditionally, South Korea is a team that has no lack of deadly shooters from beyond the arc. But Yoo said that in recent years, the country seems to have lost that edge.
He’s putting his hopes now on 22-year-old rising star Kim Mingoo, who has sizzled late in the tournament, to serve as the inspiration for Korea to add some more shooters.
“I think that we used to have three-point shooters, long range shooters. Now there are not much long range shooters,” the coach said. “But because of the appearance of Mingoo, I believe that there are going to be more three-point shooters.”
The younger Kim scored 27 points against the Philippines in the semifinals, built around 5-for-11 shooting from three-point range. He led the team anew with 21 markers in the third-place game, on 5-for-10 shooting from beyond the arc.
The youngster, though, didn’t want to take credit for his excellent performance
“I believe that basketball can’t be played individually and the older players and coaches helped him a lot,” he said.
“That’s why I could do better in the last game and this game.”
Source: http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/south-korea-team-hopes-world-cup-ticket-boosts-basketball-popularity-at-home-again
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