This Feb. 23, 2020, file photo shows an empty stadium seats during the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers group A basketball game between South Korea and Thailand in Seoul, South Korea. (Hong Hae-in/Yonhap via AP, File)
MANILA, Philippines—Korea has begged off participating in the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers in Manama, Bahrain amid the lingering concern that the COVID-19 pandemic still poses.
The Korea Basketball Association announced the development on Tuesday.
“Considering the health of the national team, I thought it was right not to go to Bahrain,” a KBA official said in a report from News Naver’s Min Joon Gu.
Manama will host the November window of the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers in a “bubble set up,” which will also be adopted for future qualifying windows.
As of posting time, Bahrain has tallied 137,310 COVID-19 cases with a death toll reaching 505.
Korea leads Group A of the competition with a 2-0 record and was supposed to take on the Philippines on Nov. 28 and Indonesia on Nov. 30.