Asian Games Korean basketball wins 4 medals, but challenges remain at home

By Lee Hae-rin

• Published Sep 26, 2026 4:24 PM KST
• Updated Sep 27, 2026 2:42 PM KST

Experts credit rare continuity, more open approach to int'l competition

Korean basketball is enjoying a rare moment of across-the-board success at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, securing medals in the women’s and men’s 5x5 and 3x3 events, a striking international resurgence for a sport that has struggled for attention, infrastructure and a stable pipeline at home.

Korea’s women’s 5x5 team captured its first Asian Games gold medal in 12 years, defeating host Japan 75-70 in Saturday’s final. The women’s 3x3 side also claimed its first Asian Games medal, beating Thailand 21-8 for bronze on Friday.

The men’s 5x5 team, coached by Latvia’s Nikolajs Mazurs, also ended a 12-year Asian Games drought by defeating Japan 67-57 in the final on Sept. 20. The men’s 3x3 squad followed Friday with Korea’s first Asian Games gold in the sport, defeating Qatar 19-10.

For a sport whose domestic profile has declined from its peak in the 1990s, the results have offered an unusual burst of optimism.

Cho Hyun-il, a basketball analyst and commentator, attributed Korea’s medal haul to sustained preparation, tactical adaptability and a willingness among national team staff to look beyond the domestic game.

“Other countries may have sent less-than-full-strength squads, but that should not diminish what Korea did,” Cho told The Korea Times. “For Korea, the Asian Games was a clearly defined target, and the teams prepared for it with real commitment.”

“The men’s gold was the result of a challenge taken on by everyone — the players, the coaching staff and the federation,” basketball analyst and former professional player Kim Jin-yong told The Korea Times. “It was not the perfect lineup everyone had imagined, but they waited for each player to be ready and for the team to show what it could do.”

The success has arrived long after the heady era of Korean college basketball in the mid-1990s. The 1993-94 Basketball Festival, when Yonsei University became the first college team to win the tournament by beating leading corporate teams, transformed the sport. Stars including Seo Jang-hoon, Lee Sang-min, Woo Ji-won and Moon Kyung-eun, creating a strong youth fandom.

Basketball’s cultural reach was reinforced by the Korean popularity of Japanese manga series “Slam Dunk” and the 1994 television drama “The Last Match.” Games quickly sold out, and star players appeared on the covers of popular magazines.

That popularity faded after the professional league launched in 1997. Franchise relocations weakened local ties and the sport lost the college-versus-corporate-team narrative that had made the Basketball Festival compelling.

Korea’s domestic game is showing signs of recovery. The Korean Basketball League drew 811,185 spectators during the 2025-26 regular season, its first time above 800,000 in nine seasons, averaging about 3,000 attendees per game. However, it remains far below the league’s record 1.2 million spectators in 2013-14.

Korea has long relied on a small school and university pipeline to produce professional and national team players. There are currently 2,351 registered student athletes. Neighboring Japan’s much larger ecosystem has 582,670 student players and 33,386 affiliated teams.

Kim said the Asian Games breakthrough represented a hard-won victor for the players, coaches and administrators as they move beyond the restrictions that have long constrained Korean basketball. The federation’s willingness to persist with Mazurs, Korea’s first foreign coach for the men’s team, was a key example of committing to changes despite early criticism of his training methods and disappointing early results.

“Waiting is itself a level of maturity,” Kim said. “People often say after one bad game that someone should be fired. But when you wait, something can emerge.”

He said the 3x3 medal win was no accident. Korea required players to compete on its domestic Korea Tour circuit to be eligible for the Asian Games team, then gave the athletes exposure through international events, including the Nations League and World Cup qualifying competitions.

“It was a project designed to win gold, not something that happened because the pieces just fell into place,” Kim said.

Cho said the women’s team also benefited from continuity following its World Cup campaign, allowing coach Park Soo-ho to develop their timing and cohesion. Korea also adjusted its game to exploit matchup while playing against China in the semifinals, rather than rigidly following a predetermined game plan. “They maintained their identity but responded flexibly,” Cho said.

But the Asian Games medals do not erase structural weaknesses. Kim noted that the women’s team lacks enough players to run full 5x5 practices. Korea must also resist treating the Asian Games as an endpoint, he said, arguing that the stated goal of reaching the quarterfinals at the 2032 Olympics demands deeper investment in international competition, player development and the domestic game.

“The work does not end with this,” Kim said. “The federation and the league need to improve the atmosphere at arenas so people who enjoy watching the national team will also want to follow the league and basketball itself.”

“After winning gold at the 2014 Asian Games, Korea failed to carry that momentum forward,” Cho said. “A gold medal does not mean every task has been completed. The federation and the league need to work closely together, while the men’s game must continue exploring naturalization and the women’s game needs to strengthen its player base.”

He went on to say that Korea needs a longer-term international strategy, including more overseas exhibition games and competitive opportunities.

“Korea has not qualified for the Olympics in men’s basketball for 30 years,” Cho said. “Playing friendlies at home matters, but playing abroad is even more valuable for a country that has so few chances to experience international basketball.”