South Korea break Japan hearts to win Asian Games basketball gold

NAGOYA, Japan - South Korea broke Japanese hearts on Sept 20 when they took Asian Games men’s basketball gold with a 67-57 triumph in the final in Nagoya.

Lee Hyun-jun top-scored for the Koreans with 27 points, including five three-pointers, in a scrappy victory helped by some wayward Japan shooting.

“I’m unbelievably happy,” Lee said. “More than anything I’m extremely grateful to my teammates.”

There was a raucous atmosphere at a packed IG Arena where every Japan score threatened to raise the roof and every South Korean free-throw attempt was barracked, despite a good contingent of away fans.

“We could hear the voices of the fans who came here from Korea very clearly, and I think their support gave us strength,” Lee added.

The teams were locked 28-28 after an attritional first half but the more experienced Koreans started fast in the third period and stretched out to a 55-47 lead which proved too much for Japan to claw back.

There were emotional scenes at the final buzzer as the Korean players celebrated with their Latvian coach Nikolajs Mazurs.

“Our foreign coach, he went through a great deal. He came here alone, without his own full coaching staff, to work in a foreign country,” said Lee, who could not hold back the tears at the end.

“I always seem to cry when I win a championship. The feeling of winning is so wonderful.”

It was South Korea’s first basketball gold since Incheon in 2014 and their fourth in Asian Games history.

Ren Kanechika was Japan’s leading scorer with 13 points.

“I’m disappointed because we were aiming to win gold,” said Kanechika. “We slumped in the second half.”

“Korea came out strong and we lost to that, and we really respect their fight.”

Iran ‘put hearts on court’

Iran withstood a late fightback to beat China 79-70 and win bronze.

China led 31-29 at half-time, but Iran took charge in the third quarter to lead 55-46 and held on to spark ecstatic celebrations.

“To be honest with you I’m just speechless,” said 2.02m-tall power forward Arsalan Kazemi, who in 2013 was the first Iranian to be drafted in the NBA by the Washington Wizards, but never made a regular season appearance.

“The pressure that we had on us is just out of this world,” he added.

“Not a lot of athletes can say that, with the way that it has been since almost six months ago, what we have been through, what our families have been through,” he said of the war at home.

“I just congratulate the people of Iran because they deserve much better.

“And I think my teammates and I put our hearts out on the court today just to get this win and make them happy.” AFP