BEIJING (Olympics) – Korea’s players will sleep very well on Sunday night after beating Latvia to reach the last eight of the Olympics.

The FIBA Asia champions had to hold on for dear life against the Latvians but eventually prevailed 72-68.

Early in the fourth quarter, Korea led by 17 points only for the Baltic country to close the gap to 70-68 points with 12 seconds remaining.

Korea sealed the victory at the free throw like.

"We were under a lot of pressure,” Korea's Jung-Ja Sin said.

“Our coach (Jung Duk Hwa) had high demands for us in this game.

“We strengthened our defense and we were able to win.”

If Korea felt pressure at the end of the game, they sure don’t feel it now.

Many people did not believe the Koreans would reach the quarter-finals but they came from behind to stun Brazil in their opener and finally clinched a spot in the knockout round by beating Latvia.

“For us, this game was very important,” Jung-Ja said.

“We always thought we could make it to the top eight. Today we have achieved our goal.”

If it was hard getting this far, just imagine the monumental task that awaits Jung-Ja and Korea next. They will take on the three-time defending champions, the United States.

“We will be under pressure by Team USA but we will do our best," Jung-Ja said.

FIBA