Korea earns chance to defend Olympic gold medal, WBSC Premier12 title

Korea will head to Tokyo 2020 to participate for the fourth time in the baseball tournament of the Olympic Games.

Korea won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a perfect record of nine victories, including a 6-2 win in the semifinal against Japan and the 3-2 win in the gold medal game against Cuba.

The last Nation that celebrated an Olympic gold in baseball will have a chance to defend its title in 2020.

Kim Kyung-moon managed Korea to a gold medal in 2008.
"That was a long time ago," he said through a translator. "I came back as Korea's manager after a while and today we earned a chance to do again our best effort to win a gold medal for our Country. Both the players and the coaching staff are very excited about this chance."

The second-best result in Olympic baseball for Korea is a bronze medal earned in 2000 in Sydney. After finishing the qualifying round with a 4-3 record, Korea lost the semifinal against the USA, 3-2, and defeated Japan in the bronze medal game, 3-1.

Korea was the host Nation of the baseball demonstration tournament at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Korea came out of the qualifying round with a 2-1 record, then lost the semifinal against Japan, 3-1, and the third-place game against Puerto Rico, 7-0.