South Korea beats Japan 6-2 to enter Olympic baseball final
22/8/2008 17:44
South Korea defeated Japan 6-2 in Beijing today to enter the gold medal
match of the Beijing Olympic baseball tournament, and will face winner of the
Cuba-United States semifinal.
The two Asian teams tied 2-2 in the first seven
innings, till South Korea's Lee Seung-yuop homered in the eighth inning to put
his team in a two-point lead. The South Koreans extended the lead afterwards to
win the game at 6-2.
"It was a very important game and I am very happy to hit
a homerun. I treasure every chance and never give up. Actually, I was just
looking for a base hit but it turned out to be a homerun," Lee Seung-yuop said
after the match.
South Korea has won all seven matches in the preliminary
rounds and added one more victory in the semifinal. Team manager Kim Kyung-moon
said that today's game was a balance between playing hard and reserving energy
for the final.
"We have to save the pitchers' stamina, as well as the
batters', for tomorrow's match. However, we also had to fight well today to
enter the final," he said.
The team manager said the victory over Japan
didn't mean South Korea was a better team than Japan. "Winning the game
sometimes has something to do with goodluck," he added.
Another semifinal
between Cuba and the United States is scheduled for this evening. The winner
will fight with South Korea tomorrow for what could be the last baseball gold
medal at the Olympics, since baseball will not be included in the 2012 London
Games. Whether it can enter the Games afterwards remains unclear.
Xinhua
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