"I thought I could win both Japan and China…I missed the first step."
Yang Hong-seok (26, LG) said about the tournament, "I didn't put the first button right."
The South Korean national basketball team, led by head coach Chu Il-seung, lost 70-84 to China in the quarterfinals of basketball at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, at 1 p.m. on the 3rd. Yang Hong-seok scored 13 points and Ra Gun-ah scored 14 points, but South Korea lost helplessly.
South Korea's basketball, which stopped in the quarterfinals and fell to the 5th-8th place ranking match, will finish without a medal for the first time since the 2006 Doha Games, which failed to win a medal.
Yang Hong-seok, who I met after the game, said, "It's a shame. I think we didn't get the first button right, so that's a shame. I don't want to make an excuse," he said.
Yang Hong-seok said, "Even in the attack, I think we were blocked by the opponent's block and there were a lot of misses between us. In that regard, we wanted to score, but we couldn't, and the opponent took points, and I think it happened," he said.
Yang Hong-seok, who will be disappointed with his last defeat against Japan.
South Korea ranked second in Group D in the group stage of the tournament. He won the first and second games against Indonesia (95-55) and Qatar (76-64), but met Japan in the final game and suffered a 77-83 shock defeat.
Korea recorded two wins and one loss. If they succeeded in winning the group by catching Japan, they could have advanced directly to the quarterfinals. However, South Korea had to play one more match to advance to the quarterfinals to the round of 12. South Korea, which faced Bahrain on the 2nd, had to face China on the 3rd, 14 hours after the end of the game.
When asked about his defeat against Japan, Yang said, "In a way, the Asian Games is not a small competition but the biggest one for us." Some say that (D)Geon-ah is also the last player in the national team. Young players had that motivation and pride in being a national team member. I also knew that if I lost today, I would fall. It's a shame," he replied.
Players who lacked rest had heavy feet in this game. Yang Hong-seok said, "Even if my body doesn't do that, I knew mentally that I would play in 14 hours. The body seems to have reacted to it, too. I'm sorry for the first step," he said.
Yang said, "My goal was to win. "I thought I would definitely win if I met China and Japan anywhere, but it's a shame," he added.