Nippon Professional Baseball has made an official request for Sadaharu Oh to steer the Japan team at next spring's World Baseball Classic and the Softbank Hawks manager responded positively on Monday.
"Once the stage is set, I think I need to make sure everything is put in place in order to produce a decent result," Oh said after the Hawks received the written request from NPB earlier in the day. "It's not an Olympics but it is a tournament with national pride at stake."
NPB is set to approve Japan's participation in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, the first-ever international tournament to feature major league players representing their countries, pending the green light from the Japanese players association.
Their talks still continue as the players are demanding the settlement of injury compensation and other issues arising from the March 3-20 tournament.