The South Korean national basketball team sailed through to the second round of the Asian Championships after securing the top place in Group A on Saturday.

Manager Hur Jae’s side outscored India 84-53 to snatch its third consecutive victory in Wuhan, China.

Korea earned the opening game win at the championships by beating Malaysia 89-42 on Thursday, and it also overcame the competition’s dark horse Lebanon 80-62.

The two-time champion Korea finished a disappointing seventh at the previous championships in 2009. But manager Hur, who took the helm of the team in 2009, has rebuilt the team by bringing in new hopefuls, including half-Korean Moon Tae-jong.

The 35-year-old power forward Moon, who was born to a Korean mother and an American father, recently obtained Korean citizenship to join the team.

On Saturday, Korea started the game comfortably, outscoring the puzzled Indian side 27-11 in the first quarter.

It was 46-28 at halftime. 

Guard Kang Byung-hyun was exemplary in the game, notching 22 points in the victory. And Moon also helped the team by scoring 14 points along with forward Cho Sung-min, who accounted for 12 points in the game.

Meanwhile, host China and defending champion Iran and Japan also moved into the second round of the 2011 FIBA Asian Championships with undefeated records.

This year, Asia’s biggest basketball competition serves as a qualifying round for the London 2012 Olympics. The winner will secure an automatic berth to London and the runner-up and third-place teams will head for the qualification rounds with other continental teams.

The second round at the Asian Championships will feature Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Iran, Taiwan and Uzbekistan in Group E, with Japan, Jordan, Syria, China, the Philippines and the UAE in Group F. Korea first meets Uzbekistan on Monday, then plays Taiwan the following day.

The Korean side’s biggest test will be on Wednesday when it meets Iran.

The 2007 and 2009 winner Iran made a strong statement by destroying the Uzbekistan side by 94 points in a 132-38 victory in the first round.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)