SEOUL (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers) - A couple of seasoned veterans return to the Korea national team for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers this month.

Legendary three-point shooter Cho SungMin makes a comeback to the international stage after missing the EABA Championship 2017 and the FIBA Asia Cup 2017. He last played at the FIBA Asia Challenge 2016, where he averaged 7.4 points and 1.6 triples per game.

Joining him is 2.21m behemoth Ha SeungJin, who last saw action for Korea at the FIBA Asia Cup 2011 in Wuhan, China. The 32-year-old former NBA player has been having a resurgent campaign in the KBL, and he may give Korea a strong presence in the middle.

Many Korean hoop nuts had hoped that American big man Ricardo Ratliffe would have been available as the team's naturalized player, but his naturalization process has not been resolved just yet. Expected to join Ha in reinforcing the frontline in Ratliffe's absence will be Oh SeKeun, Lee JongHyun and Lee SeungHyun.

Only nine players have been retained from the Korean team that finished on the podium at the Asia Cup in Beirut, Lebanon, and among the unfortunate omissions for the first window are national team mainstays Kim JongKyu and Kim SunHyung, both of whom are sidelined with serious injuries. As such, coach Hur Jae has resolved to tap some of the country's brightest young stars like Kang SangJae, Song KyoChang, and his own son Heo Hoon to be part of the pool.

Korea are in Group A with China, Hong Kong and New Zealand. They first play the Tall Blacks at the TSB Bank Arena in Wellington, New Zealand on 23 November before hosting East Asia rivals China at the Goyang Gymnasium on 26 November.

FIBA