Women's 17th Asian Games [Incheon, S.Korea, Sep 20-Oct 3]

[carlo]

Korean Federation probably thought that their best team really had a chance to win the Incheon Asian Games -what it actually did.

[CKR13]

Veterans of South Korea are certainly on their last legs and this performance is quite the down slope compared to last year's lackluster showing. Only the KBA and WKBL placed a higher importance on the Asian Games compared to the World Championships. To think they were planning to naturalize Amber Harris to fully guarantee gold while China and Japan used this to develop younger players.

Next year, South Korea has big questions on how their national team will perform in the Rio qualifiers.

[sinobball]

Pyrrhic victory? Giving up the World Championship just so you can beat the likes of Japan "B" and China "B" by 5-6 points, at home. Not impressive. Didn't this Korea "A" team beat Korea "B" by larger margins?

Chinese Taipei women's basketball must be at an all-time low. There are rumors that they may indeed naturalize.

[CKR13]

Mission accomplished for South Korea.

[carlo]

Korea won the gold in Women's tournament, beating China (B-team) 70-64 with a strong finish.

Box score

Japan edged Chinese Taipei 61-59 for the bronze.

[CKR13]

Japan may not even participate next year if (A) JBA gets banned this end of October and (B) assuming that the ban still persists next year when the FIBA Asia tournament comes along. Sad part is that the women are collateral damage from the deep decay within the JBA and the incompetence shown by the men's organizing committee over the years,

[sinobball]

10 years ago Japan was about the same level as Chinese Taipei, probably even worse, but they reached their peak in 2013 dominating China and Korea with their best frontcourt in history, namely Tokashiki, Mamiya and O (a.k.a. Wang Cenjing, naturalized Chinese). The problem now is that their backcourt are not on-par. Oga is too old, Miyamoto is also 30+ old I believe, they are clearly going downhill (Miyamoto is also extremely one-dimensional.) I definitely think China is able to beat them next year, unless they naturalize a better foreigner, but with their WJBL not having any imports other than those originally from China and Korea, it's unlikely.

South Korea if they naturalize a WNBA scrub like Amber Harris, will also be a very strong team next year, but without any I tend to think China is better, since their team is already quite old, some of these players like Lee Mi-sun played in the Sydney Olympics 14 years ago if I'm not mistaken. It won't surprise me if Beon Yeon-ha who's been their best player from 2002 to 2013 still plays next year.

China's biggest weakness in Asia is of course the PG position, just like men's basketball, but 18-year-old Yang Liwei is having a very good showing in the Worlds.

The other Asian teams I don't think will be able to beat Chinese Taipei even with a naturalized WNBA player (and Lebanon has tried). And Chinese Taipei lost by 12 to China "B" yesterday (I think it's probably more like China "C"), their future is not looking too good, unless, of course, they get a female Quincy Davis.

Back to topic, I predict this China "B" lose by a big margin to the home team in the final. China could have sent better players in every position.

[CKR13]

CKR13, how would you describe the gap in women's Asian basketball? Is it really just a three team race between Korea, Japan, and China?

That pretty much sums it up since the last decade in which China dominated their competition which is South Korea and Japan mainly. Fast forward 2014, China is rebuilding and I think will mature quickly given their good showing so far in the world cup.

Japan currently is on its peak form with Oga and Kudeken still potent while Miyamoto, Yoshida, Oba and Mamiya are entering their prime. That and Japan has a lot of upcoming prospects in its fold like the Mawuli sisters.

South Korea is quite late in building the next generation as they are the oldest compared to Japan and China. Which is why South Korea sent an a development team lead by Park Ji-Su, Hong Bo-Ram and Shin Ji-Hyeon in the world cup while the veterans are playing in the Asian Games. Kim Danbi is the upcoming leader. We could say that Korea has hanged on too its veterans with one or two prospects. When veterans like Byeon Yeon-Ha, Ha Eun-Ju and others retire, it is still uncertain on how will they fare, which is why they are fast tracking the growth of their youth at this time.

[interxavierxxx]

CKR13, how would you describe the gap in women's Asian basketball? Is it really just a three team race between Korea, Japan, and China?

[CKR13]

I REALLY enjoy watching Kim Danbi and Kim Jung-Eun play for the national team. They will be the leaders next year as Shin Jeong-Ja, Lee Mi-Sun and Byeon Yeon-Ha are retiring from the national team.

[sinobball]

It's scary as hell to think that Korea beat Mongolia by 83 points, while Mongolia beat Kazakhstan by a much larger margin (26 points) than China "B" did (14 points). Is China "B" really THAT bad?

[CKR13]

Nepal wins the match against Qatar via forfeit, 20-0.

While Mongolia's defense for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarter proved to be too much for Kazakhstan. Mongolia wins 79-53.

[CKR13]

I applaud the conviction of the Qatar team in forfeiting their match as they were asked to remove the Hijab. Qatar will file a protest to OCA according to Korean news.

[CKR13]

Yuki Ikeya is injured and will be replaced by Rui Kato. Kato played in the women's Jones Cup last month with her WJBL team, Denso Iris.

[CKR13]

Kim Dan-Bi's popularity is soaring and she hasn't even reached her prime years.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/sports/2014/08/207_163209.html