The six teams' full strength in the preview. 2024 Park Shinja Cup Opens. Will it be possible to recapture the trophy lost to Toyoda?
Aug 29, 2024
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The 2024 Woori Bank Park Shin-ja Cup, which can preview the game of the 2024-2025 women's professional basketball season, will be held from the 31st to September 8.
A total of 10 teams, including six domestic women's professional basketball teams, Toyota, Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Taiwanese Cathay Life, will participate.
After dividing into two groups to play a full league, the top two teams in each group will determine the winning team with a semifinal tournament. The prize money is 30 million won.
Group A consists of Asan Woori Bank, Cheongju KB, Busan BNK, Hitachi, Toyota, and Group B consists of Yongin Samsung Life Insurance, Incheon Shinhan Bank, Bucheon Hana Bank, Cathay Life, and Fujitsu.
The Park Shin-ja Cup, which was established in 2015, has been a battleground for new players who have focused on finding promising players. The main players did not participate.
However, the WKBL has elevated the status of the Park Shinja Cup to an international competition since last season. It made it a competition where all players can play, and invited strong players from Japanese professional basketball and Taiwanese professional basketball.
The goal is to make it the best international competition in East Asia in name and reality. Hitachi, Toyoda, and Fujitsu, who were invited this year, are the strongest teams in Japan's women's professional basketball, and Cathay Life is Taiwan's strongest team.
Last year's championship was won by Japanese powerhouse Toyoda. This year, Hitachi Toyoda and Fujitsu are expected to show strong power.
Six women's professional basketball teams will also operate full capacity, excluding the injured. In short, it is a competition where you can see the power of six teams at a glance this season.
Samsung Life Insurance, Hana Bank, Shinhan Bank, and BNK are showing formidable power.
For Samsung Life Insurance, Bae Hye-yoon and Keana Smith are uncertain to play. However, wingman resources such as Lee Hae-ran and Kang Yoo-rim, who are rapidly growing, are solid, and the backcourt led by Lee Ju-yeon and Hirano Mitsuki in the Asian quarter is also solid.
Hana Bank has a solid front coat of Jin and Yang In-young and Kim Jong-un, Jeong Ye-rim and Yurina Watabe in the Asian quarter.
BNK is also drawing attention. BNK, which recruited Kim Sonia and Park Hye-jin in the FA market, is receiving very good reviews in the Asian quarter, along with Ahn Hye-ji and Lee So-hee.
Shinhan Bank is also a strong dark horse. Tanimura Rika, the No. 1 player in the Asian quarter, will not play, but the wingmen led by Choi Yi-sam Gooseul and Shinindrast's No. 1 Hong Yoo-soon and the backcourt team with Jihyun Shin Shin Iseul, Kim Ji-young and Kang Gye-ri are expected to show their power.
Attention is also being paid to Woori Bank's changed team color without Park Ji-hyun. Last season's winning members left a large number, but absolute ace Kim Dan-bi is in good shape. As an Asian quarter, Momona Miyasaka, Sunaga and Natsuki can be put in alternately. There is also Shim Sung-young and Han Umji Park Hye-mi, who were recruited from the FA market. As Lee Myung-kwan is also holding out, Woori Bank's potential is expected to be formidable. KB also has a hit without Park Ji-soo, but there are national team members Heo Ye-eun and Kang Yi-seul, and Nakata Moe and Shida Moe are receiving good reviews in the Asian quarter.
However, the variable is whether or not the national team players who played in the preliminary preliminary round of the 2026 FIBA World Cup in Mexico will participate. Some clubs are likely to place strict limits on their playing time.
sfryu@sportschosun.com
