Samurai Japan reveal new red jersey and Olympic warm-up games

Samurai Japan marked the 100 days to the Olympic Games opening ceremony by revealing a new red uniform, adding to the traditional white home and dark blue away jerseys.

"I have never worn a red jersey in my career," said Japan skipper Atsunori Inaba, an eight-time Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) All-Star who represented Japan as a player in the 2008 Olympics and 2009 World Baseball Classic championship team. As national team manager, he guided Samurai Japan to the 2019 WBSC Premier12 trophy.

"Red is the colour of passion and the sun circle. My goal is to wear this uniform to celebrate an Olympic gold medal," Inaba told reporters.

Inaba and the Samurai Japan National Baseball Team have scheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic warm-up games on 24 and 25 July at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi in Sendai. The top-ranked national team in the world will face NPB's Rakuten Golden Eagles and Tokyo Yomiuri Giants.

Inaba and his staff are currently working on building the national team roster, which will be composed of nation's best players from NPB. He is reportedly considering as many as 185 players. The final 24-man roster is expected to be revealed between late May and early June.

The baseball tournament at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2020 opens on 28 July 2021 at the Fukushima Azuma Stadium.

Japan, Korea, Israel and Mexico await the final two squads that will complete the six-team field, following the two upcoming WBSC Olympic qualifiers in Florida and Taiwan.

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