China advance to Asian Games Finals to face Iran in Men’s and Unified Korea in Women’s

JAKARTA (Asian Games 2018) – The Asian Games Basketball  Gold Medal games are locked in with China facing Iran on the Men’s side and Unified Korea facing China on the Women’s side.

Unified Korea continue their inspiring run, making it all the way to the Women’s Basketball finals by beating Chinese-Taipei in a one-sided 89-66 win. This game was a debut for Park Ji-Su who was released from the Las Vegas Aces, her club in the WNBA. She had an impressive line of 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots. Ro Suk Yong, Lim Yunghui, and Park Hyejin all had 17 points apiece to lead their teams.

China also led from start to finish against Japan, finishing with an 86-74 win. The great defense of China formed a massive wall over the basket of Japan, holding the losing side to only 27% shooting from inside the arc. Shao Ting had a spectacular game for China with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and missed only 3 of her 11 attempts the whole game.

China will make their 6^th straight Asian Games Women’s Basketball Gold Medal game appearance, in search of their 4^th Gold Medal since the turn of the millennium. It was South Korea who took down China for the Gold Medal back in 2014 and Unified Korea will get a chance to replicate that success this time.

Iran exacted their revenge from 2014 Men’s Gold Medal game loss in a run away win against defending champions South Korea, 80-68. The size of the Iranians was a big problem as the victors dominated on the boards, 47-27. Korea struggled to get their usual long range shooting going and finished with only 4 three-pointers from 14 attempts. Ricardo Ratliffe has a gargantuan 37 points and 12 rebounds, but Korea struggled to get any consistent contribution from the rest of the line up. Iran’s Hamed Ehadadi has a highlight performance of 23 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 blocked shots, but the team also got a much needed boost from Mohammad Hassanzadeh who had 18 points and 11 boards himself.

Chinese-Taipei kept it close against China, closing the gap top only 31-30 with less than three minutes in the first half. China countered with a 15-0 run than spanned over to the third quarter that lead them all the way to an 86-63 win. Liu Cheng had a great game of 24 points and 5 rebounds, but it was just not enough to keep China’s star trio at bay. Zhou Qi, Wang Zhelin, and Ding Yanyuhang combined for 54 points to lead China to the finals.

Iran makes a return to the Asian Games Gold Medal round after a heartbreaking loss in 2014, their only appearance in the final stage prior to this year. China missed the Gold Medal game in 2014 – the first time ever since 1974 – and their return here marks how serious they are to get that gold back on their necks at the end of the Asian Games here in Jakarta.   

FIBA