Korea coach reveals Japan win secret

BANGKOK, Thailand (FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women 2016)- Gameday 3 of the FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women 2016 concluded with the much-anticipated game between Japan and Korea, where the latter came out victorious, 70-64.

After a hard-fought win, Korean coach Kim YoungMin watched her teenage players celebrate. It was far from an ordinary win, though, because it was a win against longtime rivals, Japan.

"We’ve been preparing for this game since training camp back in Korea, and we continued the preparations here in Bangkok as well," said coach Kim.

"We followed their journey in the competition," she added. "We watched their style of play closely and adopted a certain strategy accordingly."

The certain strategy included specific adjustments regarding Park Ji Su.

"Park has had so much exposure lately, especially playing for the senior national team," coach Kim said."I couldn’t risk depending on her so much because I knew they’d have her covered. That’s why I limited her movements on the offense to mainly creating space for her teammates, but I allowed her to move freely on the defense."

The chances of Korea and Japan meeting in the semifinals are very high, and the coach knows that what worked once may not work a second time.

"The Semi-Final is very important for us because they’ve beaten us at that stage for far too long now," Kim lamented.

The FIBA Asia U18 Championship for Women 2004 in  Shenzhen, China was the last time Korea beat Japan in the Semi-Finals, and Kim believes in her team's ability to do the same this time.

"Now, we need to work out on a whole new plan because they can easily adapt to what they’re familiar with," said Kim. "But no matter the plan, November 19 should see us emerging as finalists.”

FIBA