(Asiad) Women's basketball coach says team in good shape despite missing stars

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea head coach Park Soo-ho said Friday his women's national basketball team will be just fine at the Asian Games in Japan despite missing two of its biggest stars.

Park made the claim after South Korea routed Malaysia 106-40 to begin Group C play at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya.

Park brought a team of 11 players, one shy of the maximum, with star center Park Ji-su ruled out with an ankle injury. The national team had been holding out hope that the former Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) player would recover in time, but when that did not happen, the Korea Basketball Association chose not to name her replacement.

Park Ji-hyun, a current WNBA player, also did not join the national team due to her commitment with the Los Angeles Sparks.

Coach Park insisted the rest of the team will be in good shape without those stars because they have already played enough games and had enough practices in their absences.

"Of course, they could have really helped us here," said the coach. "But during our preparations for the Asian Games, we made sure we would not be too reliant on any particular player. We have trained and played without Ji-su and Ji-hyun, and I think the remaining players did a great job today without being affected too much by these absences."

South Korea missed its first nine field goal attempts in Friday's game. Malaysia even led 8-6 early on before Choi I-saem came off the bench to drain a three-pointer and Hong Yu-sun stole an inbound pass before making an easy layup to turn the tide.

Coach Park said his players were still jetlagged after returning from the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Germany only a few days ago. The 10 a.m. tipoff Friday did not help the matter.

"The players looked sluggish out of the gate, and we often struggle in the first game of a tournament anyway," he said. "The focus for this game was to help the players get back into form. I think we got better as the game progressed."