Mayuko Nakayama is seen after receiving a letter of appreciation from Ryoji Hayashi, director of

Japan's Kazuto Ioka celebrates after successfully defending his WBO super flyweight world championship for the fourth time, at Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, on Dec.... Ioka was content early to watch his opponent probe from a distance at Ota City General Gymnasium before gradually going over to the attack from the second round.... Although the southpaw Fukunaga was far from outmatched through the first six rounds in his first career world title fight, he suffered some battering in the s

Hiroaki Shimauchi doubles in the eighth inning to drive in Rakuten Eagles teammate Hiroto Kobukata with the decisive tie-breaking run that lifted the Pacific League to a 4-3 win over the Central League in All-Star Game 2 at Sendai's Rakuten Seimei Park on July 17, 2021.... His two-run third-inning single broke a 1-1 tie.... Rakuten reliever Sung Chia-hao earned the win in relief despite surrendering a pair of unearned runs on three hits in the top of the eighth....

Koki Ugusa of the Hiroshima Carp strikes a victory celebration pose after the team's win over the Yomiuri Giants in their Central League at Tokyo Dome on Oct.... The win at Tokyo Dome kept the Carp's hopes of seizing a playoff berth alive as they moved to within three games of the Giants with eight games left to play.... Seiya Suzuki, winner of the CL's last two Batter of the Month Awards, hit his 36th home run and scored twice, while Ryosuke Kikuchi doubled, homered, scored twice and drove in

Roki Sasaki of the Lotte Marines pitches during a Pacific League game against the Rakuten Eagles on Aug.... Sasaki( 2-2) took the mound at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi with a 2-0 lead.... A native of neighboring Iwate Prefecture, the 19-year-old Sasaki won for the first time since May 27....

YOKOHAMA( Kyodo)--Tetsuto Yamada's tie-breaking three-run double in the eighth inning lifted Japan into the Tokyo Olympic baseball gold medal game with an intense 5-2 win over archrival South Korea in Wednesday's semifinal.... With two outs and the bases loaded, the Yakult Swallows slugger drilled a fat pitch from reliever Go Woo Suk to give Japan the lead for good at Yokohama baseball stadium.... The South Koreans, however, still have a chance to defend their Olympic title from the 2008 Beiji

Japan's Hayato Sakamoto celebrates his walk-off single in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Dominican Republic at the 2020 Summer Olympics, on July 28, 2021, in Fukushima, Japan.... The underdog Dominicans led 3-1 entering the ninth after starter Cristopher Mercedes dominated a lineup he knows well from his years in Nippon Professional Baseball.... Outfielder Johan Mieses also threw out a runner at home in the eighth inning to preserve the lead....