[Anchor]

The men's basketball national team won the gold medal at the Nagoya Asian Games for the first time in 12 years, claiming the top spot in Asia for the 5th time in history.

Today's (September 21) top story with Reporter Han Sung-hee.

[Reporter]

Our national team went through an absurd situation ahead of the final yesterday.

They had planned to visit the training facility in the morning to warm up, but the assigned vehicle failed to show up without any explanation, forcing them to cancel their practice.

Throughout this tournament, there were frequent cases of transportation disruptions due to poor management, but it was pointed out as suspicious that such a situation occurred right before the final against the home team, Japan.

During the match, Japanese home fans delivered one-sided support, and several ambiguous calls were made where obvious fouls by Japan went unwhistled, but our players gave it their absolute all.

Lee Hyun-jung grabbed tenacious rebounds, while Lee Jeong-hyeon shook up the inside and outside, tying the first half at 28 to 28.

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

Trailing by a single point, he poured in 13 points in the third quarter alone—including three consecutive three-pointers—to seize momentum.

Riding the momentum, the national team continued to push Japan in the fourth quarter, and the moment the final buzzer sounded to announce a 67 to 57 victory, everyone rushed to the court and hugged each other.

Shedding hot tears and waving the Taegeukgi in enemy territory, they shared the joy of a perfect championship run with 6 wins and 0 losses in this tournament.

[Lee Hyun-jung / National Basketball Team: Tears just come out when you win. The feeling of winning is just so good, and I know how hard our team members fought for that gold medal...]&br;
Reclaiming the top spot at an Asian Games held overseas for the first time in 44 years since the 1982 New Delhi Games.

Korean men's basketball, which has long struggled on the global stage and suffered a decline in popularity, hopes this gold medal will serve as a turning point.

(Video by: Kim Se-kyung, Video Editing by: Lee Jae-sung)