The Japan Power Analysis Institute's statement that the goal is to win does not sound like a bluff. The extreme operation of the game was also a pre-arranged plan for Japan. 토토사이트 순위
Japan, which stuck to its game plan until the end, lost 13-20 to Australia, the favorite team, at a preliminary match of Group C of the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup 2024 held at a special court in Singapore's OCBC Square on Thursday. Despite the loss, Japan's team was able to feel the strength of Japan's team 3x3.
Ahead of the tournament, Japan, which selected 24 players and sent Saito Ryoma, Thomas Kennedy, Yasuoka Ryuto and Ochiai Tomoya to Singapore through reinforcement training, will compete with Australia and the Philippines for the quarterfinals.
Tomoya Ochiai and Ryuto Yasuoka, who represent Japan, have represented Japan in the 3x3 event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Thomas Kennedy, a naturalized player from the U.S., has played in the B-League in Japan since 2011 and represented Japan in the 3x3 World Cup in 2023.
Japan participated in the tournament as the best member they could build, but they met too strong an opponent from the first match. Australia, which won the 3x3 Asia Cup consecutively from 2018 to 2022, was Japan's first opponent.
Australia's Todd Blanchfield and William Hickey are players who play for the NBL (Australian Professional Basketball League) Iliwara Hawks along with Lee Hyun-joong, and have been blasting the 3x3 Asia Cup court with tremendous height and skills since the qualifying draw of the tournament.
Australia's unilateral dominance was expected, but when I opened the lid, Japan was much better prepared than I thought.
Although the team failed to overcome the heights of Joshua Davy, who is 202 centimeters tall, and James O'Donnell, who is 206 centimeters tall, Yasuoka Ryuto and Thomas Kennedy consistently made bold shooting attempts from the outside, playing on par with Australia until the latter half of the match. Yasuoka Ryuto and Thomas Kennedy attempted 22 two-point shots and made five against Australia. The two players solved 10 points out of Japan's 13 points against Australia. It was regrettable that Japan's four two-point shots, attempted by Tomoya Ochiai, failed to cut through the rim at all.
Japan's game plan, which was even extreme, was a good example of how low-rise Asian players should perform when facing strong teams like Australia, which are virtually European players. Japan, whose tallest player was Tomas Kenidi at 201cm, failed to overcome the height limit by giving up eight offensive rebounds, but its firm game plan to shake Australia from the outside until just before the defeat was very impressive.
Despite losing to Australia, Japan's momentum is unlikely to stop there.
"Our goal at this year's event is to win," said Hiroto Sato, an analyst at the Japanese national team, who met with reporters ahead of the match against Australia. "There is a high possibility that we will lose the first match. However, nobody knows what will happen if we meet again in the tournament."
"There are a lot of videos about Australian players on the Internet. However, Korea and Japan believe that it is right to take videos of matches at the site and hand over the analysis materials to players immediately. Australia lost to Mongolia in the final at the 3x3 Asia Cup last year. "There is no way that Japan will not be the one who failed to win this year," he said. "It is not a joke to say that Korea aims to win the title."
Japan, which has always been serious about 3x3, such as conducting strengthening training for this tournament several months ago and dispatching power analysts to Singapore, will play its final preliminary match against the Philippines at 9:10 p.m. today (Korea) to advance to the quarterfinals.