South Korea coach fired up in embarrassing loss at Asian basketball championship

TIANJIN, China, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- South Korea head coach Hur Jae asked his players to boycott a placing finals match and fired up in the after-game news conference Saturday at the Asian men's basketball championship here.

Hur complained on a no-call to referee Arsen Andryshkin of Kazakhstan when his team was down 67-65 to Chinese Taipei with nine seconds left in a 5th-8th placing game.

Andryshkin instantly called a technical foul on Hur, who burst out Korean slangs even when Andryshkin went to the other side of the court. He gestured his players to remain on the bench when the time-out was up.

Referee Heros Avanesian of Iran gave one more minute to South Korea. Korean players stepped onto the court after the signal and Chinese Taipei went on to win 70-65.

Hur tried to approach Andryshkin after the whistle for more explanation but he was stopped by Avanesian. Stadium security staff escorted referees out from different exits when some Korean players threw towels to the referees.

"I thought there was a no-call on a traveling against Chinese Taipei. I tried to get some explanation on that no-call but he (Andryshkin) called a technical on me right away. That's the reason I was angry," Hur said at the after-game conference.

"I didn't ask my players not to play the game. I think the referees did a bad job tonight. They didn't stop the time clock when I called a time-out earlier, and they didn't give me enough explanations," Hur added.

The South Koreans were not happy with the training schedule and time of matches, and had some complains on accommodations and traffic arrangement, Hur said.

South Korea had to compete against the Philippines for the 7th placings of the tournament after the loss, the worst result for the Koreans at the continental competition.

They lost to Iran, Lebanon and Chinese Taipei and failed to qualify for the top four for the first time in history.