Team China suffers tough reality check on its way to FIBA World Cup

The Chinese men's national basketball team began its long road to redemption the hard way after suffering defeat at home to South Korea in its first game in the Asian qualifying tournament for the 2027 FIBA World Cup.

With its perimeter defense torn apart by the Korean squad's speed and accuracy, Team China struggled to keep up with the pace and intensity of its opponent throughout the first qualifier for the tournament taking place in Qatar in 2027, being outgunned 80-76 by the visitors, to the disappointment of 15,000 home fans at Beijing's Wukesong Arena on Friday night.

The reverse fixture takes place on Monday, in Wonju, South Korea, with Team China seeking revenge to boost its chances of advancing from the four-team Group B to make it to the World Cup finals.

From there, only the highest-ranked Asian team at the Qatar showpiece earns a sole direct qualification quota for the 2028 Olympic basketball tournament, taking place in Los Angeles.

Having suffered two similar losses before, also beaten by the opposition's sharp 3-point shooting at the 2023 World Cup and Asian Games, Team China's defensive efforts proved vulnerable again on Friday, allowing Korea's Lee Hyun-jung to hit nine 3-pointers out of 14 attempts.

Team China's head coach Guo Shiqiang said his team has to and will get better in the next fight.

"We lost our focus early in the game and never managed to get back to our best," Guo said of the loss at the iconic venue, which hosted the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

"We have to get better, particularly in our defense on the perimeter and our own offensive efficiency.

"An opening loss hit us with a head-on blow, making it tougher for our ambition to qualify for the World Cup and our preparations for the LA28 Olympics.

"We will re-evaluate our performance tonight thoroughly, learn from our mistakes and try to correct them in the next game."

Team China's young guard Liao Sanning led the squad in scoring with 17 points, while dishing out four assists. Veteran center Zhou Qi finished the game with a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds, but had his impact limited by the physically aggressive defense of Team Korea.

The visitors appeared to be on their way to a comfortable victory, having built a commanding 77-58 lead with 4:11 remaining in the game, but the home team doubled down on defense to stage a furious comeback. With just 21 seconds left, the gap was reduced to just three points, 79-76, but despite the best efforts of hot-shooting Chinese forward Zhang Zhenlin, Team China ran out of steam, much to the relief of the visiting squad.

Korea's sharp-shooting hero Lee signed off the night with a game-high 33 points, while his teammate An Young-jun contributed 13 points and six rebounds.

The first phase of the Asian qualifiers features four groups, each of four teams, with the top three in each group advancing to Phase Two, to compete for a total of seven quota places for the 2027 Cup finals in Qatar.