The women’s basketball team suffered a shock upset in the first match of the FIBA World Cup pre-qualification round.
South Korea, ranked 13th in the FIBA rankings, lost 78-84 to Venezuela (36th), the lowest ranking team among its opponents, in the first Group A match of the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup pre-qualification held at Himnacio Juan dela Barrera in Mexico City, Mexico, on the 20th. South Korea will face the Czech Republic (23rd) on the 21st and Mali (20th) on the 23rd, respectively.
The preliminary preliminary round of the Basketball World Cup will be divided into groups A and B, with a total of eight teams participating, and only one team from the two groups will qualify for the preliminary round. Group B consists of Mexico (45th), Montenegro (22nd), and New Zealand (26th) and Mozambique (33rd).
Korea finished the first half with a 45-41 lead, with Kang Yi-seul (KB), Jihyun Shin (Shinhan Bank) and Park Ji-hyun (Bankstown) evenly hitting outside shots. In the third quarter, center Park Ji-soo (Galatasaray) survived a shot under the basket and ran away to a seven-point gap, but lost points to opponent shooter Walleska Perez in succession to face the fourth quarter with 62-60.
In the final quarter, Korea was in a tight spot because it could not stop Perez. After continuing the seesaw game early in the fourth quarter, Park Ji-soo’s layup tied the game with 3:24 left in the final minute, but he gave up seven points in a row, including Perez’s outfielder. Perez scored another three-pointer with 1:28 left before the end, and made a free throw 39 seconds before the end, dampening Korea’s will to chase. 스포츠토토
Korea had 17 points and three assists, including 19 points and six rebounds for Park Ji-hyun, who advanced to the Australian stage this season, and three points and five hits for Kang Yi-seul. Park Ji-soo, who advanced to the Turkiye League, also had 14 points, six rebounds and three assists. However, he failed to properly block the opponent team’s star shooter Perez, and thus allowed 22 points, eight rebounds and five assists, which was a loss.
“I don’t think we have 10 percent of our preparation,” Korean women’s national team coach Park Soo-ho said after the match. “We lacked movement in the offensive side and did not play well in the defense side,” Kang said. “As we are shorter in height (in the remaining matches), we will likely be able to win or lose in rebounding. I will pay attention to the basics.”