“Park Ji-hyun is the ace who should carry Korean women’s basketball.”
The W League, a Japanese women’s professional basketball league, hosted the ‘W League All-Star 2022-2023 in Ariake’ from 2:00 pm on the 29th at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Starting with the All-Star Game for Japanese rookie players, various events are held.
12 WKBL Rising Stars (WKBL) were also invited. 14 W-League All-Stars (hereafter referred to as W-League) players, including Lamu Tokashiki and Yuki Miyazawa, faced off against the rising stars of WKBL. The result was 89-84, and the W League won.
The W League players were always relaxed. This is because the main big men of the W League, such as Lamu Tokashiki (JX-ENEOS) and Yuki Miyazawa (FUSITSU), are veterans with a lot of experience.
In particular, Lamu Tokashiki is regarded as the best big man in Japanese women’s basketball. She is also the one who brought Japanese women’s basketball to the next level. She has been recognized for her skills, even having a WNBA career.
Her record under Lamu Tokashiki was 9 points, 7 rebounds (3 offense), 4 assists and 1 steal. However, her playing time was short, and her field goal success rate was about 66.7% (2 points: 4/6).
Her record was high in her outward contributions. After she gathered some assist defense on herself, she energized her perimeter shooter with a quick, accurate pass. With her screen or hand-off play, she also created a ball-handler’s three-pointer or a mid-range jumper.
After the match, Lamu Tokashiki said, “The skill and technique are good, and the concentration to score is good. She thinks those 3 factors are better than Korean players. She also felt the power of the players,” she said, looking back at Korean women’s basketball players in general.
He continued, “Since they are young players, I think they have a greater potential for development. The more you experience, the more scared you will become,” he said, adding what he felt from the WKBL players.
The W League showed a difference from the WKBL. However, it was quickly chased in the second half of the fourth quarter. This is because Lamu Tokashiki did not have a firm advantage in the confrontation with Park Ji-hyun. Since it was an event game, he probably wouldn’t have put 100% into it, but Park Ji-hyun’s performance seemed to be impressive to Ramu Tokashiki.
Lamu Tokashiki said, “Although he is a young player, I think he is a player who will carry Korean women’s basketball. He is also a player who should serve as the ace of Korean women’s basketball. I hope he can lead Korean women’s basketball,” he said, highly appreciating Park Ji-hyun’s potential.
He continued, “All of the young Korean players I’ve played with this time have good skills. Both technique and judgment are good. However, the desire to win must be stronger than the opponent. When you have that kind of mind, you can compete with any opponent.” As a basketball senior, he gave sincere advice to young players in Korea.바카라사이트
“Several Korean players were impressive on the international stage, but when I was young, I was impressed by coach Jeon Joo-won’s game. Seeing such a person on the other side’s bench, it was different.”
On the other hand, WKBL and W League want to continue to interact with each other. The Korea-Japan Women’s Basketball All-Star Game, which was held this time, also has that meaning.
Lamu Tokashiki also said, “Although he met Korean players in international competitions, he had no opportunity to interact with players at the league level. Also, he faced a lot of young Korean players. It was a fresh game. I also have a strong desire to go to Korea,” he said, looking forward to continued exchanges with WKBL. The confrontation with the WKBL rising star seemed to have settled down as a pretty good memory.