Suffered an all-time upset loss and was eliminated from the 3x3 Asia Cup
I didn’t know I’d use this word at this point. ‘Disastrous’ happened.
South Korean men’s 3x3 team lost 19–21 to Sri Lanka, ranked 80th in the world, at the qualifying round of Group B for the “FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup 2024” held at a special court in Singapore’s OCBC Square on Wednesday. The Korean team, which lost to Indonesia and Sri Lanka one after another, was eliminated from the qualifying draw and packed.
It was a shocking defeat and an unexpected result. The national team, which faced a crisis after losing to Indonesia on the previous day, started to reverse the mood by returning Seok Jong-tae, who was absent due to injury. As there were a number of cases of victory by 10 points or more, the team showed its strength from the beginning.
The mood was good until the middle of the match. Lim Hyun-taek and Park Rae-hoon led the offense, instead of showing signs of lethargy on the previous day. Team Korea, which started the match with Lim’s basket count, took the early lead with 3–0. Park Rae-hoon’s two-point shot enabled the team to lead 5–0.
It was the national team that gave hope to Sri Lanka without conceding a point three minutes after the start of the game. The national team pressured Sri Lanka enough to allow its first run three minutes and 52 seconds after the start of the game, and the gap widened to 9–1.
However, problems that emerged in this year’s event were clearly reflected. After half-way through the game, the team suddenly got tired and stopped Sri Lanka with fouls, but fell into a trap of team fouls about four minutes into the game. The team already showed defense problems in this year’s event, but collapsed too early due to team fouls.
While Lim Won-joon and Lim Hyun-taek made alternating errors, the national team, which allowed a 5–11 chase, led 14–7 until 3:47 before the end of the game, making people think that it might be a case.
However, the team, which was tired too early, became dull both in attack and defense, and Sri Lanka, which had a physical advantage, narrowed the gap to 10–14 with Rukshan Atapatu making a three-point play. The endangered team was at its worst, even committing a 10-team foul, and allowed a tie 2 minutes and 55 seconds before the game ended.
The demotivated national team struggled to win at least, but lost to Sri Lanka’s Kande Mendis 22 seconds before the end of the game, giving up its 21st run.
The national team, which suffered an all-time loss by conceding a seven-point lead, was eliminated from the tournament and is on its way home.