# Wheelchair basketball team loses silver to Japan in final after beating them in prelims

South Korea's men's wheelchair basketball team lost to Japan to take home the silver medal at the [Hangzhou 2022 ParaAsian Games.](https://slides.com/gostopsite1/women-s-basketball-woori-bank-kb-makes-it-two-wins-in-a-row-at-the-park-shinjah-cup)

The men's team, led by Ko Kwang-yup, fell 45-47 to "Asia's strongest team" Japan in the final on Sunday at the Hangzhou Olympic Center Gymnasium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.

After winning back-to-back titles in Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014, as well as a bronze medal in Indonesia 2018, the South Koreans settled for silver in their bid for a first gold medal in nine years.

The Koreans won all four of their games in Group B of the preliminary round, including a 74-39 thrashing of China in the semifinals.

Japan, the team they faced in the final, had beaten 52-38 in the second game of the group stage, but were expected to have a tough time against the team that won silver at the [Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.](https://maps.google.ae/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fslotplayground.com%2F)

Starting with aces Kim Dong-hyun (Sporting Class 4-Jeju Samdasu) and Cho Seung-hyun (Sporting Class 4-Chuncheon Tigers), as well as Gong Dae-young (Sporting Class 1-Jeju Samdasu), Kwak Jun-sung (Sporting Class 1-Coway Blue Wheels), and Kim Sang-yeol (Sporting Class 4-Chuncheon Tigers), the Korean team struggled to find offensive routes against Japan's stingy defense in the first quarter.

Japan continued to score under the basket with kill passes, and with the score at 2-6, coach Ko Kwang-yup called a timeout to regroup.

Korea then began to pull away with a three-pointer from Cho Seung-hyun, a steady stream of rebounds from Kim Dong-hyun, and a basket from Kim Min-sung (Sports Grade 1.5-Chuncheon Tigers).

With a 13-12 lead after the first quarter, Korea went into the second quarter with a bigger lead.

Kim Dong-hyun's layup, a mid-range shot by Lim Dong-joo (Sport Grade 2 - Coway Blue Wheels), and back-to-back baskets by Cho Seung-hyun extended Korea's lead to six points, and as the second quarter buzzer sounded, the ball left Kim Min-sung's hand and crashed through the rim to give Korea a 27-19 lead at halftime.

In the third quarter, South Korea allowed Japan to fight back.

While Korea's shots continued to miss the rim, Japan scored steadily and briefly took the lead with 11 straight points.

However, they regained the lead with a mid-range shot from Cho Seung-hyun and seemed to be out of trouble when Kim Dong-hyun scored following a steal by Cho.

Going into the final quarter with a 38-35 lead, Japan continued to play solid defense with relentless physicality, and the two teams went back and forth in a back-and-forth battle.

South Korea scored the first points of the fourth quarter with just over five minutes left in the game when [Cho Seung-hyun](http://penguin.dearest.net/wiki/index.php?slotplayground3) drove to the basket, but the pendulum of the game slowly swung in Japan's favor.

With 2:28 left in the game, Kei Akita scored to cut the deficit to 42-45, but a dramatic three-pointer by Lim Dong-joo with 1:29 left in the game balanced the score and kept the gold medal hopes alive.

However, they immediately gave up a basket to Japan's Koki Maruyama and were unable to score in the remaining minute as Japan's cobwebbed defense prevented them from scoring any more points, leaving Korea with a 45-47 defeat.

South Korea was led by Cho Seung-hyun with 18 points and Kim Min-sung with 14 on the night, while Kim Dong-hyun grabbed 11 rebounds.

After the game, Coach Ko said, "The players played really well. We made some mistakes in terms of the timing of the bench and the players we used." "Japan is a team that plays better defense than offense. "They've been playing a pressing defense lately (which they showed today). We need to find fast players and study tactics to break this defense."

Cho Seung-hyun added: "The Korean players were tired after playing so many matches to reach the final. I think they felt the pressure from their physical strength against Japan."

"We made something out of nothing by winning the Incheon tournament in 2014. After the gold medal, a domestic wheelchair basketball league was created, unemployed teams were formed, and the number of young players increased," he said. "The results showed in this tournament. If we keep going, we will have better results next time," he emphasized.

Ko's next goal is to qualify for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. He will compete against Asian teams for two spots at the Paralympic Quarterfinals next January. [슬롯사이트](https://www.slotplayground.com/slotsite-categories/slot-safesite/)