Spain and South Korea will open up their respective Tokyo 2020 Olympics campaigns later this week against each other. Which among these Group A teams will get a W from the get-go? Will the Koreans pull off the upset? Or will Spain dominate and get the win? Check out our preview of this game below.
The South Koreans will make their first appearance in the women’s Olympics basketball for the first time in over 10 years. The last time they competed in this tournament was in 2008 in Beijing. More recently, South Korea placed 14th in the 2018 FIBA WOMEN’s World Cup but finished third in the 2020 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament at Belgrade to book a ticket and reserve their seats in Tokyo. The fate of the South Koreans in Japan will mostly be dictated by how well their best player would play and that’s WNBA center Ji Su Park. Standing 6-5 with a frame of 206 pounds, Park will be the top player to watch out on the side of the Koreans. Park is currently under contract with the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA and in 18 games this season, she’s managed to put up 1.9 points and 1.9 rebounds per game in just 9.2 minutes per contest. Expect her to do more with bigger minutes reserved for her in Tokyo.
Spain will be looking to build off on its silver-medal finish five years ago in the Rio Olympics. It also won the bronze in the 2018 FIBA Women’s World Cup, while the team’s road to Tokyo was paved by a second-place finish in the 2020 2020 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament at Belgrade. There is a chip on the shoulder of the Spanish women after they managed just a disappointing seventh-place finish in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket last June, so expect Spain to go all out in its first assignment in Tokyo against a team that’s perceived to be inferior to them. After all, Spain is ranked third in the world, while South Korea is only 19th. Spain will be relying on its 1-2 punch of point guard Maite Cazorla and center Astou Ndour who both have WNBA experience. The team also has center Raquel Carrera, who is just 19 but has shown so much promise in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket.
