Koreas looking to recapture hoops magic at Tokyo 2020

All News 20:07 February 15, 2019

SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and North Korea will try to recapture their basketball magic when they reunite for a joint women's team at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Following a tripartite meeting with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Koreas agreed to field a unified women's hoops team at the Olympics, along with three other sports: women's field hockey, rowing and judo.

The two Koreas have a recent history of partnership in women's basketball. A combined team of nine South Koreans and three North Koreans grabbed the silver medal at the Asian Games last September in Jakarta, with one North Korean player, starting center Ro Suk-yong, emerging as an unlikely star.

In this file photo from Sept. 1, 2018, members of the joint Korean women's basketball team raise their arms on the podium after winning the silver medal at the 18th Asian Games at Gelora Bung Karno Istora in Jakarta. (Yonhap)

Ro was the team's most complete player. She started all seven games and ended the tournament as the top Korean scorer with 15.1 points per game, which ranked fifth overall. She had the third-best field goal percentage in the tournament at 55.4 percent.

Those numbers would have been even higher had she not got into foul trouble and been held to four points in a 71-65 loss to China in the gold medal game.

Throughout the tournament, Ro, undersized for her position at 182 centimeters, used her quick first step and superb handling skills to get around bigger bodies to score. She also flashed perimeter shooting touch, and after grabbing defensive rebounds, the versatile one often dribbled the length of the court and finished her own fast breaks with fluid layups.

On top of that, Ro was a fine passer who could initiate offense from the top of the key, and her great vision allowed her to cut to the basket even through the slimmest of openings and set herself up for easy points.

One other North Korean, Jang Mi-gyong, served as a backup point guard. She was an old-school floor general, with a pass-first, defend-second, shoot-later mindset.

They developed quick chemistry with South Korean shooters such as Kang Lee-seul, Park Hye-jin and Park Ha-na. One tantalizing prospect for Korean hoops fans is seeing the pairing of Ro with South Korean WNBA center Park Ji-su for more extended minutes.

At the Asian Games, Park, 20, was only available for the semifinals and the final because of scheduling conflicts with her WNBA team, the Las Vegas Aces. In their first game together, an 89-66 win over Chinese Taipei in the semifinals, Ro tied for the team lead with 17 points, while Park had a double-double with 10 points and a team-high 11 boards.

In this file photo from Sept. 1, 2018, joint women's Korean basketball team players Park Ji-su of South Korea (L) and Ro Suk-yong of North Korea talk to each other during the gold medal game against China at the 18th Asian Games at Gelora Bung Karno Istora in Jakarta. (Yonhap)

They complemented each other well on both ends. Park, the tallest Korean player at 196 centimeters, was a defensive force, blocking two shots within the opening two minutes while also lifting some pressure off Ro down low. On offense, Park perched herself in the low post and allowed Ro to roam free on the perimeter. The North Korean made two three-pointers in that game.

Park said after the game that she found it easy to play with Ro because she didn't have to shoulder so much of the attacking burden next to such a good offensive player.

Back in the Women's Korean Basketball League (WKBL) with the KB Stars for the 2018-2019 season, Park is a strong MVP candidate. She is the league's top shot blocker with 1.96 swats per game and is ranked second with 11.9 rebounds per game for the first-place Stars. Park is also 10th in both points (12.9) and steals (1.26) per game. She is one of just three players averaging a double-double in points and rebounds, along with Cheyenne Parker and Krystal Thomas.

In the current world rankings, South Korea is 18th and North Korea is 56th.

South Korea last played in the Olympics in 2008, and failed to qualify for the next two competitions. North Korea has never played in an Olympic basketball tournament.

And the joint team will face an uphill battle just to get to the 2020 Olympics, with the multi-phase qualifying process lying ahead.

First, the top eight teams from the FIBA Women's Asia Cup scheduled for September will qualify for the Asia/Oceania Pre-Qualifying Tournaments in November.

And from there, the top four teams will move on to the final FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in February next year.

In the Asia/Oceania Pre-Qualifying Tournament, Japan is already assured of a top-four spot as the Olympic host, meaning Korea and other Olympic hopefuls must finish among the top three.

Sixteen countries will compete in the final qualifying tournament. Twelve nations will play in the Olympics, and host Japan and the reigning world champion United States have already secured their spots, leaving everyone else to vie for the 10 remaining berths.

South Korean officials are hoping to open joint training camp in July, two months before the Women's Asia Cup.