HANGZHOU: South Korea cut neighbours North Korea and their giant centre Pak Ji Na down to size to win bronze in the Asian Games women's basketball today in Hangzhou.
Ji Na stands 6ft 9in and scored 51 points in a first-round game against Taiwan, but she could not lead her team to a medal as South Korea ran out 93-63 winners.
Ji Na was up against South Korea's Park Ji Su – herself 6ft 6in – in the second game between the two teams, who also met in the first round.
Ji Na still scored a game-high 27 points, but South Korea coach Jung Sun Min said her players were ready for their towering opponent this time.
"Back then, we didn't have any information about Pak Ji Na, we didn't know about her playing style or her movement, so we just had to test it out and see," she said, referring to the first meeting in Hangzhou.
"But today's game was our sixth of the tournament and we got a lot of information from our first game.
"We had done a lot of analysis and we had done a lot of preparation for this game."
A unified Korea women's basketball team won silver at the last Asian Games, in Jakarta in 2018.
They were among three unified Korean teams, along with rowing and canoeing, to feature at those Games.
Today's bronze-medal game featured four players from the 2018 team – two from South Korea and two from North Korea.
The coach Sun Min said she was happy to sign off with a bronze medal after announcing her retirement after the game.
"We were very well prepared for this game and we are very happy with the result," she said. --AFP