BayStars Yamasaki: “I will do my best to be selected for Tokyo 2020”
IOC leadership is convinced that Tokyo Olympics have all of the ingredients for success. Yokohama DeNA Bay Stars pitcher Yasuaki Yamasaki spoke of the interest that the return of baseball and softball generate to world sport leaders, including WBSC President Fraccari
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are less then 600 days away and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) leadership is firmly convinced that “all of the ingredients for success are here”.
IOC Coordination Commission recently visited the locations of four Olympic venues. The visit concluded with a stop, at the presence of WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari, at Yokohama Baseball Stadium in the Kanagawa prefecture, where Olympic gold medal softball player Eri Yamada and Olympic baseball bronze medallist Daisuke Miura, together with NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars players Yasuaki Yamasaki and Kenta Ishida, joined the Coordination Commission to review the plans for the Games.
The Yokohama Stadium is home to the DeNA BayStars. Built in 1978 and renewed in 2007, it currently has a capacity of 30,000 seats. The facility will soon be upgraded to include an additional 6,000 seats.
Yokohama stadium is Japan’s first multipurpose stadium. It will host both baseball and softball games.
Yokohama Baseball Stadium
Right handed pitcher Yasuaki Yamasaki, born October 1992 from a Japanese father and a Filipino mother, has played in NPB since 2015. He was the DeNA BayStars first draft pick and earned Central League Rookie of the Year honours in his first season. He was selected by Samurai Japan to compete in the inaugural WBSC Premier12. He has been an All Star in each of his four seasons as a professional player. He was on the Japanese roster in the recent MLB Japan All Star Series.
He is a witness of the fact that the return of baseball and softball to the Olympic Programme in Tokyo is generating great attention.
“Baseball in Japan pushes the game by skills rather than by power, so I will do my best to be selected by the team for Tokyo 2020,” said Yamazaki after the Coordination Commission visit. “It is the national game in my home country, Japan, so I would warmly welcome people from abroad, and I’m hoping that I can show them great competition during the Olympics.”
山崎 康晃 @19Yasuaki: “I will do my best to be selected by @samuraijapan_pr for @Tokyo2020. Baseball is the national game in my home country “
via @iocmedia : https://t.co/b4ojsRBoQ2 @TwitterSportsJP @ydb_yokohama @PacificleagueTV @PLcom_lite @olympicchannel pic.twitter.com/Ckl4jW1vM8
— WBSC ⚾ (@WBSC) 5 dicembre 2018
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