SOUTH KOREAN police are investigating 11 professional basketball players on suspicion of illegal gambling and matchfixing in the top-tier Korean Basketball League.

    Park Min-soon, head of the cybercrimes division at Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency, said yesterday it is believed at least one of the players missed shots intentionally during a game that he placed a bet on his team losing.

    Park said that the player attempted several shots that didn’t touch the rim during a February game when he bet 1 million Korean won (US$830) on his team losing.

    The 11 basketball players were among 26 people being questioned for illegal gambling activities between 2009 and 2015, the police official said. Most of them allegedly placed bets on basketball, soccer, and baseball games using illegal gambling sites, he said.

    Park confirmed that Kim Sun-hyung, a Seoul SK Knights player who recently represented South Korea in the William Jones Cup basketball tournament in Taiwan, was among those being investigated for placing bets on illegal websites.(SD-Agencies)