Asian Games, Men's Basketball 'Powerhouse' Lebanon Misses Hong Kong... Good News for Chu Il Seung-ho
The strong team Lebanon, which was considered a favorite to win the Hangzhou Asian Games basketball tournament, will not participate, and the underdog Hong Kong will participate.
This is good news for Chu Il Seung-ho, who is aiming for the gold medal.
As of the 18th, the matchup of Lebanon, which was originally assigned to Group B 카지노사이트킹 of the men's basketball group stage, cannot be found on MyInfo, an information site for the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Lebanon's place was replaced by Hong Kong, which failed to qualify for the Asian Games.
Originally, Lebanon was expected to compete with China for first and second place in Group B.
If Lebanon had finished the group stage in second place, behind the host country China, there was a possibility of meeting the national team led by coach Chu Il-seung in the quarterfinals.
Choo Il Seung-ho competes in Group D, where the winner of Group D will face the winner of the 2nd place team in Group B and the 3rd place team in Group A in the quarterfinals.
If Lebanon was pushed to second place in Group B, a showdown with Korea was expected as there was no team among the three teams (Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) that could threaten Lebanon in Group A, excluding Iran, which was likely to take first place.
As Hong Kong, which is classified as an underdog in Asia, replaced Lebanon, the possibility of Taiwan advancing to the quarterfinals in Group B increased, as Taiwan ranked second in the group instead of Lebanon.
For Chu Il Seung-ho, the risk of meeting a strong team like Lebanon from the quarterfinals due to a twist of events was avoided.
Lebanon is a team that recorded two wins (three losses) in the 2023 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Cup, which ended on the 10th.
They showed solid performance by holding a close match with France, a European powerhouse with many NBA players, until the middle of the fourth quarter.
Lebanon, led by Wael Arazi, who is considered the best guard in Asia, reached the finals of the FIBA Asia Cup held last year.
Although they unfortunately lost 73-75 on the brink of victory, they showed a performance that was not inferior even against Australia, a world-class basketball powerhouse.
Lebanon, which has achieved success in recent international competitions, was selected as one of the favorites for this competition as well.
However, the Lebanon national basketball team ultimately decided to give up on the Asian Games, perhaps because the team was still suffering from the aftereffects of the fierce battle that took place in the FIBA World Cup.
Pierre Zalk, president of the Lebanese Sports Council, said in an interview with China's state-run news agency Xinhua, "Some players (of the basketball team) are injured and we have internal schedules in October, so we will not participate in the Asian Games."