Olympic Baseball Day 2: Historical Preview, ISR-KOR Starting Pitchers

Korea and Israel will open competition in Group B of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic baseball tournament at 7 pm local time on Thursday, 29 July, at the Yokohama Stadium.

The defending Olympic champions Korea picked as their starter 21-year old right-hander Won Tae-in, who will be making his debut for the Korean National Team. Won started 15 games for the Samsung Lions of Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and posted an impressive 2.54 ERA.

Israel will hand the ball to Jon Moscot, a 29-year old righthander with Major League Baseball (MLB) experience. Moscot helped Israel win the WBSC Europe/Africa Qualifier.

World No. 3 Korea vs No. 24 Israel

• Korea lost 2-1 against Israel in Seoul after 10 innings in the first round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Israel won Pool A and went on to be eliminated in the second round, but Korea failed to progress past the first round.
• Israel are one of two teams to make their debut in baseball at the Olympic Games, alongside Mexico.
• Excluding baseball's debut at the Olympic Games in 1992, the best result by a team making its Olympic debut was fourth by Nicaragua in 1996 and Canada in 2004.
• Korea have won two medals in baseball at the Olympic Games: bronze in 2000 and gold in 2008 (the last time baseball was on the Olympic programme). Only Cuba (3) have won multiple Olympic gold medals in baseball.
• Kim Hyunsoo and Kang Minho were part of the Korea squad that won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in 2008. There are 12 players on multiple gold medals in baseball at the Olympic Games (all Cubans on two golds).