Perfect Gold for Men's Basketball After 12 Years Despite Absurd No-Show Incident

[Anchor]

The South Korean men's basketball team defeated archrival Japan to capture the gold medal for the first time in 12 years at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Powered by ace Lee Hyun-jung's stellar performance, South Korea claimed its fifth Asian championship in history.

Reporter Kim Hyeong-yeol has the story.

[Reporter]

Our national team faced an absurd situation ahead of the final.

The team had planned to visit the training venue in the morning to warm up, but had to cancel the training session because the assigned vehicle failed to show up without any explanation.

While transportation disruptions caused by poor tournament management have occurred frequently during this event, critics point out the suspicious timing of such an incident right before the final against host nation Japan.

To make matters.worse, Japanese home fans delivered lopsided support, and several dubious calls were made—with whistles failing to blow on blatant fouls by Japan—but our players gave it everything they had.

Lee Hyun-jung grabbed tenacious rebounds, while Lee Jung-hyun wreaked havoc both inside and outside, tying the first half at 28-28.

What broke the tight contest open was ace Lee Hyun-jung.

Trailing by a point, he unleashed consecutive three-pointers, pouring in 13 points in the third quarter alone—including three shots from beyond the arc—to lead a 55-47 advantage.

Buoyed by momentum, the national team continued to press Japan in the fourth quarter, and the moment the final buzzer sounded to seal a 67-57 victory, everyone rushed onto the court and embraced.

Shedding hot tears and waving the Taegeukgi, they shared the joy of a perfect 6-0 sweep to win the championship at this tournament.

Having previously reached the summit by defeating China in overtime at the 2002 Busan Asian Games and pulling off a thrilling comeback win against Iran at the 2014 Incheon Games, the South Korean men's basketball team has put the gold medal around their necks once again after 12 years. In particular, this marks their first victory at an Asian Games held overseas in 44 years, following the 1982 New Delhi Games.

Team Mazurs, which captured its fifth gold medal overall, will return to Korea tomorrow (September 21).

(Video by Kim Se-kyung | Video Editing by Park Ki-deok | Graphics by Hwang Se-yeon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.