Japanese Wins Olympic Berth
The Japanese National Team exploded for six runs in the seventh inning to rout Chinese Taipei 10-2 on Monday to win the 24th Asian Baseball Championship and the automatic berth to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Chinese Taipei took a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning on a Chin-Feng Chen two-run homer. But Japan was not impressed and scored six times the following inning to remain unbeaten and win the Asian Olympic Qualifier held in Taiwan.
Japanese starting pitcher Yu Darvish threw seven fantastic innings giving up three hits and striking out six batters. Darvish proved why he captured this year’s Sawamura Award as the best pitcher in Japan.
Takahiro Arai hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning and was 3-for-4 with four RBI. Norichika Aoki and Shinnosuke Abe each had three hits for former Hanshin Tigers manager Senichi Hoshino.
Japan now joins China, the United States, Cuba, and the Netherlands who have already qualified for next year’s Summer Olympics.
South Korea crushed the Philippines 13-1 behind the fine hitting of Young-Min Ko who hit a two-run homer. Jae-Kuk Ryu got the win with a nice outing on the hill. Both South Korea and Taiwan will play in the final Olympic Qualifier in March against six non-Asian teams for the final three Olympic berths.
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