Coach Ryu Joong-il (60), who led the Korean baseball team to four consecutive wins in the Hangzhou Asian Games, will also take the helm at the ‘Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) 2023’.안전놀이터
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced on the 18th, “Coach Ryu Joong-il has been appointed as the APBC 2023 head coach.”
APBC 2023, which will be held at Tokyo Dome in Japan from November 16 to 19, will feature players aged 24 or younger (born after January 1, 1999) or within 3 years of becoming a professional, and three wild cards per team (January 1, 1994). (those born after) will participate.
Coach Ryu Joong-il won the championship at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held this year with a national team composed of players under the age of 25 or in their fourth year of joining the team.
KBO said, “The Hangzhou Games is the first time that the Korean national baseball team has formed a team centered on prospects in the Asian Games where professional players participated. Coach Ryu Joong-il led the national team to the championship and took the first successful step toward a generational change,” adding, “This APBC also features prospects.” He explained the reason for his appointment, saying, “In terms of continuity following the Asian Games, we decided that coach Ryu Joong-il would be the right person for the competition.”
The 26 final entries to APBC will be announced through a press conference held by the directors of the four participating countries (Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia) of APBC 2023, scheduled to be held in Tokyo on the 24th. KBO plans to soon finalize the composition of the coaching staff to assist coach Ryu Joong-il.
The APBC national team will be convened in early November, train in Korea, and then leave for Tokyo, Japan on November 14.
After the APBC ends, the KBO plans to review the appointment of a full-time coach to lead the national team in future international competitions, such as the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 in 2024 and the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in 2026.