[Anchor]
Noh Si-hwan, the captain of the baseball national team, is widely recognized as the team's mood maker. Expressing his confidence in achieving five consecutive tournament titles, he also playfully warned his Hanwha Eagles teammate, Taiwan's Wang Yen-cheng.
Reporter Bae Jeonghun has the story.
[Reporter]
[Noh Si-hwan / National Baseball Team Infielder: Ah!]
Taking on the heavy responsibility of national team captain for the first time in his life, Noh Si-hwan is also serving as the ultimate mood maker.
[Noh Si-hwan / National Baseball Team Infielder: Ju-won was making such a grimace yesterday (laughs)]
[Lee Dong Wook / National Baseball Team Coach: Exactly (laughs)]
[Noh Si-hwan / National Baseball Team Infielder: I've always loved lifting the mood, talking a lot, and keeping things fun...]
He is ready to tackle whatever role is asked of him during games, whether it is his primary position at third base, first base, or designated hitter.
[Noh Si-hwan / National Baseball Team Infielder: No matter what position I play, whether it's third base, first base, or as the designated hitter, I plan to fulfill 100% of the role assigned to me, and I have no discomfort with that.]
He also brought up old memories to issue a playful warning to Wang Yen-cheng, Taiwan's key pitcher and his teammate on the Hanwha Eagles, whom he will face off against in the battle for the gold medal.
[Noh Si-hwan / National Baseball Team Infielder: I met Wang Yen-cheng once before at the APBC, and I probably hit a timely RBI off him. He probably won't pitch against us in the Korea game, wouldn't he? Because we're so familiar with him, if he does come up, our players certainly won't let him off easy.]
Noh Si-hwan, who created the buzzworthy "charter flight celebration" at the last WBC, is determined to perform an energetic celebration once again after achieving five consecutive titles at this tournament.
[Noh Si-hwan / National Baseball Team Infielder: I don't think anyone is thinking, 'We can't hit him, this won't be easy.' Instead, there are many confident players, so I'm not really worried. I hope we win everything and come back with gold medals around our necks.]
The national team will play a practice game against Sangmu tomorrow to sharpen their match readiness before departing the day after tomorrow for Nagoya, the battleground for the tournament.
(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News / Video by Yoo Dong-hhyuk, Video Editing by Park Jung-sam, Design by Hwang Se-yeon)
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