Wheelchair basketball team loses to Canada in final group stage game

Korean wheelchair basketball players fight for the ball during a game against Colombia at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics on Saturday. [NEWS1]

The Korean wheelchair basketball team lost its final group stage game of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics 74-64 to Canada on Sunday at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza in Tokyo.

Canada took the lead in the first quarter and held on for the rest of the game. Korea rallied, narrowing the gap over the next three quarters and getting within two points of a tie at one point in the fourth quarter, but Canada broke through to take a comfortable 10 point lead in the last few minutes of the game.

Korea's loss to Canada significantly reduces the team's chance of progressing to the knockout round of the competition. The top four teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage of the tournament. Korea is currently fourth with one win and four losses, followed by Canada with one win and three losses and Colombia with four losses.

Canada and Colombia will face off on Monday. If Canada wins, it will advance to the knockout stage. If Colombia wins and neither team edges out Korea on points difference, Korea will remain in fourth place and advance to the knockout stage.

The wheelchair basketball team on Saturday beat Colombia for their first win of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, and their first victory at a major tournament since the 2000 Sydney Games.

Unlike other Paralympic sports, where athletes compete in different events based on impairment, wheelchair basketball teams are made up of players with a variety of physical impairments graded from 1.0 to 4.5, with 4.5 being the lowest level of impairment. The five players on the court at any time combined cannot be graded above 14.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]