Japanese masters baseball squad, Japan Indigo is hoping for gold. Photo: Angela Bacic
Wednesday 9 November 2016
By Angela Bacic
A Japanese masters baseball squad is hoping for gold at the Jupiters Pan Pacific Masters Games (JPPMG) at Surfers Paradise Baseball Club in Benowa.
Baseball is one of the most popular sports in Japan and has been added to the line-up of sports for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Despite only bringing 19 players to the games, the Japanese club has entered teams into the 40+ and 35+ divisions.
They share the players around the two teams – the youngest player is Arito Okutsuji (35) and the oldest is Yoshihito Kuki (57).
This will be the Japanese club’s third year participating at the JPPMG, where they have previously won a silver medal in 2012 and gold in 2014.
Club captain Masazumi Hiro hopes his two teams can take a gold medal back to Japan.
“We want to win a gold medal,” Masazumi said.
“Our over 40s are going very well compared to us (30+).
The club does not compete at any other masters games and enjoy playing on the Gold Coast every two years.
The teams have won four out of the seven games between them in their age divisions and hope to continue their strong performance before the conclusion of the event on Saturday 12 November.
The 10th biennial Jupiters Pan Pacific Masters Games is being held 5 – 13 November 2016 on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
The event showcases competition in 43 sports and is hosting 13,000 participants from Queensland, interstate and overseas.
