Basketball
Divided again, South Korea beat North Korea in Asian Games basketball
Having played in a unified team at the Asian Games in Jakarta five years ago, North and South Korea’s women basketballers battled each other in Hangzhou on Friday in a full-blooded contest that the South won 81-62.
In 2018, North Korea contributed three players to the 12-member roster coached by South Korean Lee Moon-Kyoo: Ro Suk-Yong, Kim Hye-yon and Jang Mi-gyong.
They won a silver medal, losing 71-65 to China in the final.
On Friday, at China’s Asian Games, a number of the roster returned, split on opposing sides for the Group C match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium.
Ro captained North Korea and guard Kim started on the bench, while South Korea had forward Kang Lee-seul, guard Park Ji-hyun and centre Park Ji-su among the 2018 alumni.
With South Korea and North Korea still technically at war, there has been diplomatic tension at the Games.
North Korean athletes refused to join South Korean rivals for a group photo of medal winners at the shooting competition.
With that backdrop, South Korea’s coach Jung Sun-min warned her players not to respond too aggressively if the game got physical.
It did at times, with North Korea’s 6ft-8in Pak Ji-na laying some bruising hits on her opponents.
“We also predicted this tense game in the locker room,” Jung told reporters.
“I reminded our players … definitely there will be some inevitable physical contact.
“However, we shall not over-react.
“And this shall not affect the competition, we will control ourselves.
“We were fully prepared for it. If they are strong, we will be stronger.”
North Korea had a cheer-squad numbering a few dozen people high up in the grandstand of the half-full stadium.
Wearing identical white T-shirts and baseball caps, they chanted throughout and cheered madly every time a South Korean was off target.
Yet with China a long-standing ally of North Korea, there was plenty of local support in the crowd.
South Korea trailed at the first quarter but big centre Park took command to drive them to a 33-25 lead at halftime and extend the lead to 20 points after the third quarter.
UNIFIED TEAMS
Unified Korean teams have played at several international events, in ice hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and also canoeing and rowing at the Jakarta Asian Games.
Further opportunities for sporting tie-ups have proved difficult, with North Korea not competing at any major multi-sport event since the 2018 Asian Games due to a combination of COVID-19 and suspension by Olympic authorities.
Whether North Korea’s basketball team would be open to another tie-up in future was not something their coach Jong Song-sim could answer during the post-match press conference.
A North Korea team official sitting beside Jong, who was an assistant coach of the unified team in 2018, said the question was not relevant.
A South Korean reporter who asked whether the North Korean team had enjoyed the local food and the support of local crowds at the Games was upbraided by the same official, who took exception that the reporter had not referred to the nation as “DPRK” (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) — as per Asian Games protocol.
“You should apologise,” the official snapped at the reporter, the question left unanswered.
South Korea’s Park said she was happy to see her former North Korean team mates five years on from Jakarta but suggested the emotion of the moment may have affected her.
“I actually didn’t give my best performance,” she told reporters.
“After five years, I finally see my opponent, I thought I would be pretty happy but I didn’t get any chance to talk to them.”
-Reuters
Musa Kida, the president of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), has been appointed as a non-executive chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), the country’s apex oil company. His appointment is part of the sweeping overhaul that the Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu made in the first working day after the Sallah break.
The sacking of the board of the NNPC sees the appointment of Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), replacing Mele Kolo Kyari. Prior to his current appointment, Kida was the Deputy Managing Director, Deep Water Services, of Total Nigeria.
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Basketball
NSC DG Bukola Olopade Congratulates NBBF Boss Musa Kida for new appointment as NNPC Chairman
The Director General of the National Sports Commission NSC, Bukola Olopade, has congratulated the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, Musa Kida, for his appointment as the new Board Chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Olopade said Musa Kida has been one of Nigeria’s most efficient and Productive Sports administrators who has sacrificed a lot for the growth of Nigerian Basketball.
The DG maintained that his latest appointment is a testament to his years of passion, hard work, dedication and a very successful track record in the oil sector for more than two decades.
” Musa Kida is an accomplished administrator whose achievements cut across both the oil sector and Nigerian basketball. I have no doubt that the NNPC Limited will attain better efficiency and attract more investment under his watch”.
” Under his leadership as the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, we have seen the steady growth of the country’s basketball and how the National teams have continued to achieve new heights.
” At the last Olympic Games in France, the Nigeria Women’s Basketball team, D’Tigress was one of the shining stories for Team Nigeria, where they set a new record by making it to the knockout phase before losing to the United States”.
” I personally know the efforts behind the scenes that kida put in for Nigeria to achieve that feat with the girls in France and the Nigerian girls have been an unrivalled team on the continent for some time now”.
The DG added that he does not doubt that Musa Kida will use his new position to further earnest the development of Nigerian Sports especially basketball especially now that there is a new focus on growing a sustainable Sports Economy.
” Whilst the Oil sector will benefit immensely from the Expertise of Musa Kida as the new Board Chairman of the NNPC Limited, Mr President, has further helped to place Nigerian Sports in a better pedestal by putting one of us in a very strategic place like the NNPC”, he concluded.
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Basketball
FIBA names Nigeria’s Agada among those who starred the most on the last day of the 2025 AfroBasket Qualifiers
The 16 teams that will be competing at this year’s FIBA AfroBasket from 12-24 August have been confirmed, with some teams securing their places on the final day of qualifying.
A quintet of individuals put in stellar performances to send their teams to this year’s African championship in style.
Teams have 169 days to prepare for the 2025 edition of the AfroBasket set to be hosted by former champions Angola, who will be chasing a record-extending 12th title.
FIBA- Africa looked at the matches and the players and featured nine players who were the stars of the final day on Sunday.
Here is FIBA’s analysis: The return of the Tokyo Olympian has been a blessing for Abdulrahman Mohammed’s Nigeria.
For the second game in a row, Agada was a thorn in their side’s side, scoring 23 points in a convincing 77-62 win over 2021 AfroBasket semifinalists Cape Verde.
The 30-year-old played just over 30 minutes and finished two rebounds shy of a double-double while adding six assists and five steals for an efficiency rating of 29.
Nigeria entered the competition after an 0-3 start, but his disruptive presence on the floor helped them to a 3-0 run to qualify, averaging 19 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists.
The other players highlighted are: Ousmane Drame of Guinea, Karim Maneof Senegal, Childe Dundao of Angola, Siriman Kanoute of Mali, as well as Ntore Habimana (Rwanda) Aliou Fadiala Diarra (Mali) Allan Dokossi (Central African Republic)and Nisre Zouzoua (Cote d’Ivoire)
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The league title will be icing on Soname’s birthday cake on Sunday
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