Korean Women's Basketball, which aims to re-enter the semifinals in Asia, eventually ran against New Zealand
Jul 13, 2025
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Korean women's basketball is aiming for the semifinals in Asia again for the first time in two years.
The Korean women's basketball team will participate in the 2025 FIBA Women's Asia Cup in Shenzhen, China, which opens on the 13th and ends on the 20th. This year marks the 31st edition of the competition, which began in 1965.
Korea, which has participated in all of the first competitions, has won 12 times in history, tied with China, which has appeared since 1976, but has been in fourth place for nearly a decade, behind Japan, which has grown fiercely since the 2010s after China, and Australia, which has been incorporated into Asian basketball since the 2017 tournament. In 2023, when qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification was required, it fell behind New Zealand and suffered the humiliation of not even reaching the semifinals for the first time in the history of the tournament.
The winner of this tournament will go straight to the FIBA Women's World Cup finals in Germany in September next year, and the second-to-sixth-ranked teams will be given the qualifying tournament, but the goal of this tournament is to re-enter the semifinals in terms of restoring honor.
With a total of eight teams participating, South Korea, ranked 14th in the FIBA rankings, belongs to China (4th), New Zealand (26th), and Indonesia (57th) in Group A. Australia (2nd), Japan (9th), the Philippines (44th), and Lebanon (54th) will compete in Group B. The first-place team in each group will go straight to the semifinals, and the four teams that ranked second and third will go to the semifinals through the semifinals.
On the 14th, Korea's first game, the match against New Zealand is expected to be a de facto second-place match in the group and a gauge to reach the semifinals. China, which will meet on the 15th, is a difficult opponent to beat in reality, and the match against Indonesia on the 16th is expected to win. Only when they finish second after China can they meet in Group B's third place and the semi-final PO to create favorable conditions to determine their advance to the semifinals. In Group B, Australia and Japan are competing for first and second place, and the Philippines is expected to be third.
New Zealand has a lower FIBA ranking than Korea, but it can now be said to be a strong player in Asian basketball that cannot be ignored. Two years ago, he met New Zealand in the first match, but his expectations were twisted with a 64 to 66 loss, and after finishing third in the group, he was defeated by Australia, which he met in the semi-final PO, and finished fifth in the final.
New Zealand is well known for improving its skills through regular match exchanges with neighboring Australia and Japan. However, center Penina Davidson and shooting guard Charise Leger-Walker, who slammed South Korea with 24 points and 20 points, respectively, in their showdowns two years ago, will not participate in the tournament. Instead, forward Ezra McGoldrick, who also played in the WNBA, is considered the top target of alert. FIBA also cited McGoldrick as a key player to fill the absence of the two players on its official website.
South Korea ranked second with 4 wins and 1 loss at the William Jones Cup in Taiwan, which was a real inspection stage before participating in the Asian Cup, but it is worrisome that center Park Ji-soo was unable to play due to poor condition. However, while practicing, the key is how well he will perform in the three consecutive qualifying games. Jihyun Shin Kang I-seul Park Ji-hyun showed good condition in the Jones Cup, so we can fully expect it.
As FIBA pointed out, how veteran Kim Dan-bi will take center stage after retiring from the national team is also a variable. Another point to watch is how well the newly selected players, including Hong Yoo-soon, Lee Myung-kwan, and Lee Ju-yeon, will perform inside and outside the national team.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
