Kim Dan-bi (33, Woori Bank) will appear on the final stage as a member of the women’s national basketball team.
The Korean women’s basketball team headed to Hangzhou, the battle site, through Incheon International Airport on the 24th. For the 2024 Hangzhou Asian Games, the women’s basketball team has been improving its strength through camp training.
There are some athletes who have a particularly special process of preparing for and competing in competitions. This is Kim Dan-bi, captain of the women’s national basketball team. She was selected for her first national team at the age of 20 at the 2010 World Championships (now World Cup) in the Czech Republic. Since then, she has been consistently called up by her country for a whopping 14 years, and she has been an indispensable core resource for the national team.
Ever since she was called up to the national team ahead of the Hangzhou Asian Games, Kim Dan-bi has been exercising with the thought that ‘this is the last time’. She said, “This is really the last time. Anything that says the last is bound to feel special. On the last day of training at the Jincheon National Training Center, the last day of exercise in Korea with the athletes, (Lee) Kyung took a photo with her older sister.” “Because this will be the last time…” he said.
Danbi Kim recalled her national team debut. She said, “The first game I played as a member of the adult national team was against Brazil at the Czech Republic World Championships (2010). It was a game that (Kim) Ji-yoon won with a steal (61-60 win in the first game in Group C). As a member of the national team, “I remember it vividly because it was my debut game,” he recalled. At that time, Danbi Kim played a whopping 30 minutes and scored 13 points, contributing greatly to her team’s victory. She was the team’s top scorer.
The most memorable competition during레고토토 my 23 years with the national team was the final qualifying round for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics held in Nantes in 2016. At the time, the women’s national team was evaluated that even one win was not easy, but they played a magical game of basketball, pouring in a ton of 3-point shots. Although she only finished in 6th place and missed out on qualifying for the Olympics, where up to 5th place was awarded, she received rave reviews from foreign media for her good performance. Danbi Kim said, “I don’t have many memories of receiving good reviews while playing for the national team, but the 2016 Nantes tournament was a tournament where I thought, ‘This is why I play for the national team.’ Not only the domestic media but also foreign media praised us. ‘This is really what the national team is like.’ “I remember it the most because I felt like, ‘This is it,’” he said.
The women’s national basketball team is not receiving great expectations at this Asian Games. Even if China and Japan do not step forward with full force, the gap with Korea is large. Danbi Kim said, “At the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, our sisters were clearly better than the Chinese players, but they did not win the gold medal. At that time, I felt that it would be really difficult to beat China in a competition held in China. This time, we are not receiving expectations. It’s true. Still, we’ve all worked hard. It’s my last stage as a member of the national team, so I want to win a gold medal in style. For the time being, there are no international competitions in women’s basketball. So I want to finish better. I want to take on the challenge in a great way,” he said, pledging to do well.
The women’s basketball team, which arrived in Hangzhou on the afternoon of the 24th, will begin its challenge for the top spot in Asia, starting with the first match of the group stage (Group C) against Thailand on the 27th. This is the final journey of ‘national representative’ Kim Dan-bi.