South Korea win Asian Games gold after bus fails to arrive, then it happens again

Imagine preparing for an Asian Games final against the host nation and the bus that is supposed to take you to training simply does not turn up.

That is exactly what happened to South Korea's men's basketball team before their gold medal match against Japan.

South Korea had scheduled a morning shootaround at a practice gym in Nagoya before the final. The shuttle was supposed to collect the players from their hotel at around 10am.

But the bus never arrived.

With no transport to the training venue, South Korea were forced to cancel their entire pre match shootaround.

Captain Lee Seoung hyun admitted the players were angry.

"It was an incident that upset our players," Lee said, describing the situation before such an important final as unacceptable.

But something strange happened afterwards.

South Korea turn frustration into gold

Instead of training, the players went for a walk together, had coffee and tried to relax. Lee later revealed that the frustration actually gave the team extra motivation.

"When the morning practice was canceled, everyone's nerves were on edge. We approached the game with a 'win or die' determination," he said. "In the end, I think it actually had a positive effect."

And South Korea responded in the best possible way.

They defeated hosts Japan 67-57 in the final, with Lee Hyun jung producing 27 points and 18 rebounds, to win their first Asian Games men's basketball gold medal since 2014.

The following morning, as the newly crowned champions prepared to leave for the airport, they had another problem.

Their bus did not arrive on time again.

Forward Yeo Jun seok posted a photo of the players waiting with their luggage and wrote: "Even on the day we leave, the bus isn't coming."

So South Korea arrived at the Asian Games final without their planned morning training, beat the hosts to win gold and then found themselves waiting for a bus all over again.

At least this time, they had gold medals around their necks.