With cherry blossoms reaching full bloom in Tokyo, Japanese sports fans erupted in jubilation yesterday, after their compatriots defeated the US to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC).
More than a hundred people gathered near Shimbashi Station in the city center to get special newspaper editions celebrating the victory. The scene quickly turned chaotic, with police officers jumping in to help hand out copies.
“I am so proud as a Japanese national,” said Yuji Takeno, a 33-year-old company worker who was among those gathered in Shimbashi. “I also play baseball for leisure and it makes me want to work harder, that’s how well they played.”
Photo: Reuters
Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani struck out his Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout to seal a 3-2 victory for Japan in the WBC finale on Tuesday evening in Miami. Japan have won three of the five global tournaments.
“Thank you, Ohtani, thank you, Samurai Team Japan,” shouted 29-year-old company worker Sho Ishii, who watched the game at a public viewing near Tokyo Tower.
“Nihon yusho,” or “Japan victory”, was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter, with baseball-related hashtags rounding out the top 10.
Photo: EPA-EFE
With two wins and a save, Ohtani was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, leading a dominant roster of Japanese pitchers.
Japan pitchers set a WBC record for strikeouts throughout the series, Fox Sports said.
“One could argue that Samurai Japan has the three best — or three of the best — pitchers in the world, in the charismatic Ohtani, 21-year-old fire-balling sensation Roki Sasaki and the veteran Yu Darvish,” said Robert Whiting, who has written about Japanese baseball for decades.
TV viewer ratings of previous WBC games exceeded 40 percent of Japanese households, and for the finale, hundreds of fans gathered at viewing parties in the hometowns of star players, domestic media reported.
Japanese government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters the win was “an incredible achievement that greatly excited the Japanese people.”
With sublime serendipity, Japan’s victory came as Tokyo cherry blossoms reached their zenith, bathing the city’s parks and streets in pink and white.
Warm weather ushered in full bloom nine days sooner than usual in the capital and one of the earliest in recorded history, national broadcaster NHK said yesterday, citing the weather agency.
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS