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WBC Japanese national team star player Shohei Ohtani's remarks about Korean baseball are a hot topic.
He showed respect for his opponents, saying 'there are a lot of great players and they play great baseball'.
This is Reporter Lee Seong-hoon.
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On the 6th, when he threw his ticket to the WBC for the first time in his life, Ohtani mentioned a strong memory of the WBC Korea-Japan match he watched during his school days.
[Shohei Ohtani/WBC Japan representative: I think the memory of the match against Korea is the strongest.
I was excited to see the best players in Japan form a team and play against the best players in other countries.]
He started in two matches against Korea and Japan in the 2015 Premier 12 and performed overwhelming pitching without giving up a single point. Since then, both pitchers have become superstars who rewrite world baseball history with top-notch skills in the big leagues, but the evaluation of Korean baseball has been cautious and humble.
[Shohei Ohtani/WBC Japan Representative: (Korea) has the impression that there are many great players, and I think that it is a country where world-class top players are produced in any generation, so I think they play really great baseball.]
At the time of the 2006 WBC These remarks are quite different from Ichiro, who stimulated the fighting spirit of our players by saying, 'I want to make the opponent not think of defeating Japan for 30 years'.
Ohtani, who was unable to compete in the 2017 tournament due to an injury, expressed his determination to lead the championship in 14 years, entering the WBC for the first time this year.
[Shohei Otani/WBC Japan representative: There are great players, so I want to aim only for the championship.]
(Video editing: Nam Il)