The opening of the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games is less than a month away. The Hangzhou Asian Games were originally scheduled to be held in 2022, but will be held this year due to a one-year delay in the aftermath of COVID-19. It is the first Asian Games to be held in five years since the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games. It starts on September 23 and ends on October 8.

The biggest concern is whether Korean professional baseball will be able to recover its honor at the Asian Games. Baseball is one of the most popular ball games in the Asian Games. The baseball game will be held from October 1 to 7. South Korea is the country with the most baseball wins in the Asian Games. After baseball was adopted as an official sport at the 1994 Hiroshima Games, he won gold medals in Bangkok in 1998, Busan in 2002, Guangzhou in 2010, Incheon in 2014, and Jakarta and Palembang in 2018. South Korea has won gold medals in three consecutive tournaments, and is also considered a strong candidate for the championship.

One of the reasons why Korean baseball showed a strong side in the Asian Games was because of its strong motivation. The Asian Games is an international competition where baseball can receive military service exemptions. Baseball was virtually eliminated from the Olympics. Therefore, Korea often sent elite members to the Asian Games. 토토사이트

However, there are many other reasons why Korea should perform well in this tournament. South Korea has often bowed its head at international competitions held in recent years. I had to feel the reality that Korean baseball was located on the world stage. At the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, he suffered no medal humiliation. Fans were shocked and disappointed when the national team, which tried to recreate the glory of Korean baseball, which won the 2008 Beijing Olympics by winning all games, accepted the report card that could not even enter the medal table.

In March of this year, he played in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but faced a disastrous result of being eliminated in the first round. As a result, South Korea has been humiliated by being eliminated in the first round of the WBC for three consecutive times. On the other hand, Japan, called the “rival of life,” won the championship with Shohei Otani (LA Angels), who also plays as a pitcher and hitter. What’s more painful is that after the WBC, there was a drinking scandal among national team players such as Kim Kwang-hyun (SSG), Jung Chul-won (Doosan), and Lee Yong-chan (NC), sparking controversy over their qualifications.

South Korean baseball, which started self-diagnosis after the crushing defeat at the Tokyo Olympics, has set an age limit at the Asian Games. At the previous tournament, Jakarta and Palembang, Korean baseball was criticized as a “military service benefit team” even after winning the championship. Among the national team players, LG Oh Ji-hwan was at the center of controversy, and Sun Dong-yeol, who led the Asian Games team as the first full-time coach of the Korean baseball team, voluntarily resigned in November of that year due to such criticism.