South Korea views an upcoming world youth baseball championship on home soil as an opportunity to further promote the country’s prowess in the sport, the national team manager said Monday.
The country will host the U18 Baseball World Championship, organized by the International Baseball Federation, from Aug. 30 to Sept. 8. The biennial event is open to players under the age of 18, and South Korea is hosting it for the first time.
At a media day event Monday, Lee Jeong-hoon, the South Korean manager, said his players are ready to please the home crowd.
“The players are all in perfect form, mentally and physically, and they will try to contribute to the development of amateur baseball in our country,” Lee said. “We will try to turn this into an opportunity to promote the excellence of our baseball to the rest of the world.”
The U18 Korean national team poses for a photo on Monday. (Yonhap News)
The first U18 championship was held in 1981 and this year is the 25th edition. South Korea is a five-time champion.
All games will be held at Jamsil and Mokdong Stadiums, both in Seoul. South Korea has been paired with the U.S., Venezuela, the Netherlands, Australia and Colombia in Group A. Group B includes defending champion Chinese Taipei, Canada, Panama, the Czech Republic, Italy and Japan.
After the round-robin play, the top three countries from each group will advance to the second round. The teams’ combined records from the first and the second rounds will determine the seedings for the ranking round. The top two nations will compete for the championship.
South Korea will field a team of 20 players; eight pitchers, two catchers, five infielders and five outfielders.
Yoon Hyoung-bae, a hard-throwing right-hander, is considered the team’s ace. (Yonhap News)
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
