Chan Ho Park proud of Korean win over Israel, excited for team's future
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<p>Korean
baseball legend Chan Ho Park said he was “very proud” of the Korea national
team’s stunning opening Tokyo Olympic win over Israel on Thursday. Commentating
on the game at Yokohama Baseball Stadium for Korea broadcaster KBS, Park
witnessed a dramatic 10-inning 6-5 walk-off win, after Jeremy Bleich, with
bases loaded, hit Euiji Yang to score Kunwoo Park.</p>
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<p>“It was a
great game, it was so exciting to watch,” Park told the WBSC. “I commentated
but I feel like I stood pitching on the mound. There were a lot of scores from
home runs, which is bad for pitchers but Korean pitchers they all pitched well
except for the three pitches for three home runs. I’m very proud of the team
and proud of the Korean pitchers.</p>
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<p>“We had
high expectations with the two starting pitchers, Taein Won and Wonjoon Choi,
and they pitched very well but also the veteran shortstop Ji Hwan Oh had a home
run and defensive wise he was massive, I think he was MVP of the game.</p>
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<p>A
phenomenal pitcher in his heyday, Park is Korean baseball royalty having been the
first Korean to play Major League Baseball, when he signed with the Los Angeles
Dodgers in 1994. He still holds the record for the most MLB wins by an
Asian-born player, with 124.</p>
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<p>And while Korea are missing some experienced stars such as Ryu Hyun-jin and Kim Kwang-hyun, Park believes Korea has a bright future on the pitch mound.</p>
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<p>“We have young pitchers but they’re not sure if they’re the best in the world but they showed it tonight. We had a few pitches missed but I saw they made some great pitches, the last strike outs especially so that’s bright for their future. That’s Korea’s future.”</p>
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<p>Korea are the
2008 defending gold medallists having beaten Canada, Japan, China, Chinese
Taipei, Cuba and the Netherlands in pool play before overcoming Japan again in
the semifinals and Cuba in the final for their first Olympic gold. They’re in
the middle of a nine-game Olympic Games winning streak going back to a loss to
USA in their opening pool game in Beijing. Park says these heroics is inspiring
this current Korean team to aim for a repeat.</p>
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<p>“Many kids in
this team would have been watching Korea’s win at the Bejing Olympic Games when
they were younger..Seunghwan Oh (the last pitcher in the Israel game) and captain
Hyunsoo Kim (left field) played in 2008 so I’m sure the team chemistry is very
strong since coming together one week ago. Korea teams traditionally gel
quickly, we have great team chemistry that’s why we had a great game today.</p>
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<p>“I was also
impressed how Korea remained composed for the last score thrown by the Israel pitcher,
we didn’t move anything but we just wanted to win, we then got a ball and
that’s a very hustling play of the game, which Korea is good at.”</p>
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<a href="https://olympicbaseball.wbsc.org/en/2021/e-2021-baseball-olympic-games"><img src="https://static.wbsc.org/assets/cms/shares/Tokyo2020_-_Olympic_Baseball.JPG" alt="Tokyo 2020 – Olympic Baseball" width="100%" height="auto"></a>
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