Defending champions Japan and Olympic gold medalists South Korea have a score to settle in the World Baseball Classic as the neighbors rekindle one of Asia’s hottest sporting rivalries this week.
Baseball-mad Japan basked in glory when they handed South Korea their only defeat in the inaugural 2006 Classic — 6-0 in the semi-finals — before taming powerhouse Cuba.
The Samurai had lost twice to the Korean tigers in earlier rounds.
But South Korea bounced back to shame Japan twice in the first round and the semi-finals at last year’s Beijing Olympics before outlasting Cuba in the gold medal showdown. Japan finished empty-handed.
“There are no opponents we are afraid of fighting,” said Japan manager Tatsunori Hara, whose squad stars five US Major League players such as Seattle Mariners lead-off Ichiro Suzuki and Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.
“I want the team to show their stuff to the world with confidence,” he said.
Japan meet unfancied China today and South Korea take on a young Taiwan side tomorrow in an all-Asian pool of the 16-nation event organized by the US Major League Baseball organization as an answer to the soccer World Cup.
“It’s true that our players will work hard when they face Japan,” South Korea manager Kim In-sik said. “I see Japan as the strongest opponents in the pool.”
But Kim noted it had been almost a decade since South Korea began to outdo Japan head-to-head. “We have come to excel in the flow of game and mental power. We no longer fear Japan,” he said.
The top two teams from each of the four double-elimination pools will advance to the second round in the US with the final set for March 23 in Los Angeles.
Hara, who also manages Tokyo’s popular Yomiuri Giants, has picked out two left-handed pitchers as dangerous: Kim Kwang-hyun, who started against Japan twice, and Ryu Hyun-jin, who pestered Cuba in the Olympic final.
Kim’s squad feature just two expatriates, Cleveland Indians outfielder Choo Shin-soo and Tokyo Yakult Swallows right-hand pitcher Lim Chang-yong. But Kim has called up 16 Beijing gold medalists.
The US Major Leagues refuse to shut down during the Olympics and many of the clubs have been reluctant to release players for the Classic in important pre-season weeks.
Veteran South Korean pitcher Park Chan-ho is staying away to gear up for a single-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies while big hitters like Lee Seung-yeop of the Tokyo Giants and Kim Dong-joo of the Doosan Bears, the clean-up man in the 2006 Classic are also absent.
Taiwan are missing New York Yankees pitcher Wang Chien-ming and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Kuo Hong-chih.
In the 2006 Classic Asian round, Taiwan scored just one win and it was against China.
But China can spring a surprise as they did at the Olympics. They upset Taiwan 8-7 and narrowly lost 1-0 to South Korea in Beijing.
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