One day before the inaugural Asia Professional Baseball Championship begins, all three participating nations made their final tuneups with high expectations at the tournament venue, Tokyo Dome, on Wednesday.
The tournament, which features Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, will provide a managerial debut for former star player Atsunori Inaba, who took over at the helm for Samurai Japan in July. During a news conference Wednesday, the 45-year-old predicted his team would capture the championship with its solid defensive game, including its pitching.
"Both teams (South Korea and Taiwan) have potent hitting," said Inaba, whose Japan team will take on South Korea in the tournament opener at 7 p.m. on Thursday. "We are going to put emphasis on our defensive game and try to score some runs and win. That's the game we are looking to play."