First, the baseball semi-final, Sookmyung’s Korea-Japan match will be held tomorrow (4th) evening. The losing team in this match still has a chance to go to the finals, but it is still a battle in which their pride is at stake. As far as the Olympics, our baseball has never lost to Japan.
Correspondent Yoo Seong-jae from Tokyo reported.
After an overtime match last night, Japan defeated the United States in a comeback finish and met Korea in the semifinals.
The Japanese media all at once delivered the news of a dramatic come-back victory, expressing anticipation for the final match between Korea and Japan.
After a bloody battle over the past two days, our squad took a day off today to replenish their stamina.
Manager Kim Kyung-moon predicted Ko Young-pyo as the starting pitcher for the Korea-Japan match.
In the last game against the United States, Koh Young-pyo recorded four runs in the five two-outs.
The Japanese starter is ace Yamamoto, who is called ‘Mini Otani’.
He is a top-notch pitcher with a high speed ball with a maximum speed of 158 km/h and a forkball with a speed of 140 km/h, leading the Japanese league with multiple wins and strikeouts.
In the Premier 12 final two years ago, he showed an overwhelming pitch against our hitters, and in the opening game of this tournament, he also held the Dominican Republic without a score of six innings.
The shoulders of our hitters who are looking for a sense of hitting are heavy.
[강백호/야구 국가대표 : 제가 조금 더 보답할 수 있고 저희 대한민국 꼭 이길 수 있는데 제가 조금 더 한몫할 수 있도록 노력할 테니까요.]
Japan had a light training a while ago and prepared for a decisive battle.
[이나바/일본 대표팀 감독 : (한국은) 투수를 계속 바꿔주고, 타자들도 경기를 거듭하면서 몸 상태가 올라오는 것 같습니다.]
At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Korean baseball came to the top with two dramatic victories over Japan.
We look forward to seeing history repeat itself after 13 years.
(Video coverage: Cheol-min Han and Hyun-jin Moon, video editing: Young-taek Oh)
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