Hirokazu Ibata (48), manager of the Japan national team that defeated South Korea to win the 2023 Asia-Pacific Baseball Championship (APBC) final, talked about South Korean sluggers Choi Ji-hoon and Kim Hye-sung.

Japan defeated South Korea 4-3 in a hard-fought game that went to 10 extra innings in the tournament final at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on Sept. 19.

Japan struggled against the Korean mound and failed to take the lead throughout the game, which eventually went to extra innings.

Japan fell behind 3-2 in the top of the 10th inning when Yoon Dong-hee singled with two outs, but the Koreans rallied back in the bottom of the inning.

Japan put runners on first and second with no outs on a sacrifice bunt by Hidego Maki and then tied the game at 3-3 on a sacrifice fly by Shogo Sakakura.

Mannani Chusei then walked on an intentional pitch and Makoto Kadoki followed with an RBI single to win the game.

In the official postgame press conference, Ibata said, "The young players stepped up and got a good result. I am satisfied." "I think there were more spectators today than at the World Baseball Classic in March. I think there are high expectations for the young players, and I hope they will grow well in the future."

Japan defeated Chinese Taipei, South Korea, and Australia in the preliminary round, and then swept South Korea again in the final.

When asked how he felt about each of the participating countries, Ibata said, "They were all young players, so the ball was 먹튀검증 fast. We couldn't hit their balls easily, and in the end, we had to make a small difference in close games," said Ibata.

"I think this tournament has brought Asian baseball closer to the level of world baseball. We will think about how Japanese baseball should respond in the future."

When asked to share his impressions of Korea, he spoke at length.

"We won both the qualifier and the final, but it was a very small margin," Ibata said. In fact, they probably deserved to win both games." "Their hitters had really sharp swings. Their pitchers had great stuff. They worked the count with their changeups. We learned a lot from them," he said, adding that he respected his opponents.

"I think they are usually table-setters, but I thought they were really good at baseball when I saw them hit at No. 9 (Choi Ji-hoon) and No. 1 (Kim Hye-sung) today," he said. "No. 4 Noh Si-hwan, who hit two singles against our starter Tatsuya Imai, was also powerful. I think the sharp shots he hit against Imai were really top-notch," he praised.