The South Korean women’s basketball team, led by coach Park Soo Ho, suffered their second consecutive loss in the 2026 FIBA World Cup preliminary qualifiers.
Ranked 13th in the FIBA standings, South Korea suffered a 63-76 defeat to the Czech Republic, ranked 23rd in their second Group A match of the tournament’s group stage. The game took place at Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera in Mexico City on August 21.
South Korea struggled in the battle for the rebound against the Czech Republic, losing 32-44, and committed 17 turnovers. The team could not secure a victory despite an impressive individual performance by Park Ji Soo, who scored 20 points and added 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
Earlier, South Korea had suffered a comeback loss to Venezuela, ranked 36th, falling 78-84 yesterday. With two consecutive losses, South Korea is now at risk of elimination from the group stage.
Following the second round of matches, the Czech Republic leads Group A with two wins. Mali and Venezuela are tied with one win and one loss each, while South Korea is at the bottom of the group with two losses.
The tournament features eight teams, with the top team from each group earning a spot in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers. The top two teams from Groups A and B will advance to the knockout stage to compete for the championship.
South Korea has a chance to advance to the semifinals if it secures a decisive victory against Mali, ranked 20th, in its final group-stage match on August 23. South Korea also hopes that the Czech Republic wins over Venezuela to improve its chances. In the event of a three-way tie, the final rankings will be determined by head-to-head results and point differentials.
Coach Park stated, “Mali is a strong inside team, so boxing out will be extremely important. The players overall need to move well on both defense and offense.”
