The 24 baseball players who will represent Japan at the upcoming Olympic Games were announced Wednesday by Atsunori Inaba, manager of the Samurai Japan national team.
Inaba gave a press conference at a hotel in Tokyo to announce the chosen players, all of whom belong to professional teams in Japan. In addition to Masahiro Tanaka, who returned to the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles after a stint in the major leagues, three players from the Yomiuri Giants have also been selected: Tomoyuki Sugano, Kota Nakagawa and Hayato Sakamoto.
Tanaka competed in the 2008 Beijing Games, making him the only member of the team with Olympic experience.
Five players from the Hiroshima Carp were selected -- the most from any one team -- including Seiya Suzuki, a candidate for the cleanup spot, and Ryoji Kuribayashi, a possible closer. Kuribayashi, a first-round draft pick from Toyota Motor Corp., was the only rookie to be selected.
The team also includes the Saitama Seibu Lions' Kaima Taira, who set a new Japanese record for consecutive games from the start of a season without allowing a run, and the SoftBank Hawks' Yuki Yanagita.
Six teams will compete at the Tokyo Games, with the first round starting July 28 and the final on August 7.
Inaba said: "Our goal is to win the gold medal. I'm proud to be able to compete at the Olympic Games with the Japanese flag on our back. I hope that the success of the players selected for the national team will inspire people to start playing baseball."
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
