New baseball stadium for national teams opens IKSAN, South Korea

South Korea, June 13 (Yonhap) -- A new baseball stadium for South Korean national teams opened in this southern town on Monday, with hundreds of local government and sport officials on hand for the ceremony. The Iksan Stadium, about 200 kilometers south of Seoul in North Jeolla Province, will serve as the training ground for national teams on different levels ahead of international competitions. The 8.4 billion won (US$7.7 million) stadium will also host professional and amateur ball clubs during their spring training. The construction work began in July 2009. Kim Wan-joo, governor of North Jeolla, threw the ceremonial first pitch, with Lee Han-su, mayor of Iksan, at the plate as the first batter. "The Iksan Stadium will not only be the training facility for the national teams, but also a place for all baseball lovers to enjoy the game throughout the year," Lee said during the ceremony. "It will be a tremendous help in expanding the local base for baseball and in stimulating the local economy." Baseball is the most popular professional sport in the country. South Korea's senior national team won gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and finished second at the 2009 World Baseball Classic. While national football squads have their designated training ground, the National Football Center in Paju, just north of Seoul, baseball players have had to use existing pro ballparks in South Korea or to fly to tropical locations such as Hawaii for winter or spring training camps. To celebrate its opening, the Iksan Stadium will host a national university tournament for 10 days starting Monday. Also, an inaugural national women's baseball championship will begin on June 25, bringing together 21 teams from around the nation with games scheduled over two weekends. North Jeolla doesn't have a team in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), South Korea's eight-team top league. Jeonju, the capital of the province, served as the home of the now-defunct Ssangbangwool Raiders from 1991 to 1999. Officials in Jeonju are considering launching a new pro club in their city. The KBO will expand to nine clubs with a new team in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, by as early as 2013.