S. Korea launches World Baseball Classic squad

By Kim Boram
SEOUL, Jan. 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Thursday launched its team for the
second World Baseball Classic (WBC) as the country seeks to repeat its feat at
the Beijing Olympics and woo two star players who say they won't participate.
Led by manager Kim In-sik, the 32-member squad gathered at a ceremony hosted by
the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).
"If the players do their best, their performance will give pleasure to the Korean
people who are suffering from the economic recession," KBO's General Director Ha
Il-sung said, recalling South Korea's gold medal at the Beijing Olympics last
year.
"Everyone, including myself and all the players, will do their best in the
competition," Kim said, adding that he still wants U.S. Major League pitcher Park
Chan-ho and slugger Lee Seung-yeop of Japan's Yomiuri Giants to join the team.
The two athletes played leading roles for South Korea in the last WBC tournament
but have said they will not join the national squad this year as they need to
concentrate on winter training.
The KBO will not decide on the team's final 28 athletes until Feb. 22, when the
list of players must be submitted to the WBC organizing committee.
The preliminaries for the WBC, organized by U.S. Major League Baseball in 2006,
is scheduled to start in March. Eight out of 16 national teams, including Japan,
Taiwan, Cuba, Italy and the Netherlands, will advance to the final round starting
March 15 in San Diego.
South Korea's squad will travel to Japan in March for a friendly match after a
two-week training session in Hawaii in February. Its first match will be against
Taiwan in Japan on March 6.
South Korea placed third in the 2006 tournament.
brk@yna.co.kr
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