Ryu Jung-il, the coach, has won four consecutive gold medals, highlighting the contributions of Kim Hye-sung and Moon Dong-joo as MVPs and the evolution of the national team.
“We have a new generation in the national team. I hope that the players who have gained international experience at this tournament will perform better in the next tournament.”
The Korean National Baseball Team returned home from the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games with a gold medal at Incheon International Airport on August 8. Coach Ryu Jung-il said in an interview after their arrival, “The players suffered too much. I think we won the gold medal too hard. There was an age limit, and they were judged to be a little weak. I was very worried about whether we could win the gold medal, but I’m glad that the athletes worked so hard.” He expressed his feelings on winning the gold medal.
Coach Ryu Jung-il came into the tournament with the goal of changing the generation. Despite a 0-4 loss to Chinese Taipei in the group stage, the team succeeded in upsetting the Chinese Taipei in the final to win the gold medal for the fourth consecutive time, following Guangzhou 2010, Incheon 2014 and Jakarta-Palembang 2018.
“I think we’ve done a good job of changing generations,” said coach Liu Zhong-il, “and we’ve changed generations in the national team. I think the athletes who gained international experience in this tournament will do even better in the next tournament.”
When asked about the MVPs of the tournament, Ryu said, “Hye-sung Kim and pitcher Moon Dong-ju,” and added, “(Kim) didn’t play well in the final game, but he played well in the final game, especially his defense, which lived up to his reputation as the best infielder in the KBO. Moon Dong-ju was the ace in the hole for Kwak Bin. Personally, I think Moon Dong-ju will become a more advanced pitcher through this tournament,” he said, lavishing praise on the players who performed well.
Korea won their fourth straight title at the tournament, but it wasn’t easy. They lost once to Chinese Taipei in the group stage and had a tight game against Japan. Coach Ryu Jung-il said, “I think the other teams have improved a lot. Japan is called social baseball, but they are basically a well-organized team. Taiwan’s pitching, defense, and batting are better than they were 7-10 years ago. I think we have to be careful in the future,” he said, explaining that the quality of teams in international tournaments continues to rise.
“We also need to prepare from now on,” said Ryu Jung-il, who added, “If you look at the KBO league right now, there are a lot of mistakes in defense, and there are a lot of mistakes in base running. 바카라사이트 I think we need to reduce that more and more. The pitching is good,” emphasizing that the team needs to focus more on the basics to improve its competitiveness.