Ko Woo-suk greeted his fans with a bouquet of flowers celebrating the Asian Games gold medal with teammates Jung Woo-young and Moon Bo-kyung at the Lotte match at Jamsil Stadium on the 9th.
Ko Woo-suk suffered a lot at the Asian Games. He was criticized by fans when he allowed two runs in one inning against Taiwan in the group stage on the 2nd.
Ko Woo-suk, who took the mound in the bottom of the eighth inning when he was trailing 0-2, hit a double by Wu Zhengting after one out. Li Haoyi then got on base with a hit ball. The runner advanced to second and third bases, catching Sean Hawei out with a grounder to first base.
After two outs, Lin Zhao allowed a two-run timely hit, widening the score to 0-4. He stopped the eighth inning without losing a point, and in the last attack in the ninth inning, he let go of bench expectations for a tie. Korea was defeated by Taiwan 0-4.
Ko Woo-suk took the mound in the ninth inning, a big 8-1 lead over China in the Super Round on the 6th, and controlled his condition with one scoreless inning.
The final match against Taiwan again on the 9th. Ko Woo-suk took the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning with a 2-0 lead. After one out, he threw a 157-159km fastball to the strike zone border line, but the referee continued to declare the ball. Linley walked to base on a dubious ball decision. Lin Anker then hit a right-handed hit and was on the verge of one out and runners on first and second bases.
Ou Neng-ting, who had a double in the group stage, induced a grounder to second base and finished the game with a double play. Gold medal confirmed. Ko enjoyed the joy of winning the championship by giving hot hugs to his teammates on the ground.
At the gold medal ceremony, Ko Woo-suk wept as if he had mixed feelings. In an interview with reporters after the award ceremony, Ko Woo-suk said, “I cried because I had a lot of complicated thoughts,” adding, “First of all, I was really grateful to director Ryu Joong-il for selecting me in a difficult situation.” I felt sorry for Kim Kyung-moon and Lee Kang-chul, who picked me at the previous international competition, he said.
Ko Woo-suk did not play a significant role in the international competition he played with the Taegeuk mark earlier. In the semifinals of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics against Japan, he failed because he failed to step on the base properly while trying to play double play in the eighth inning with a 2-2 tie. He was on the verge of loading the bases with two outs due to a mistake, and allowed a three-run double to Seiya Suzuki. 안전놀이터
At the World Baseball Classic in March, he was injured during a practice match ahead of the tournament and could not play in any of the matches. South Korea was eliminated in the first round.
Ko Woo-suk said, “I feel a little tired, but now that I go back to the ballpark, I feel like I’m playing the same season. The mound (in China) was a little hard, and it was the first high mound I’ve ever experienced. The stronger I threw, the more fatigue I felt,” he said.
At the Arizona camp in the U.S., the mound felt a little hard, but the mound at the Chinese baseball stadium was harder and higher, making it a little difficult to adapt. He explained that the mound was high, so if the ball went low, I felt that the power decreased a little.
LG, which confirmed its regular season championship, will go straight to the Korean Series. In the final of the Asian Games, he finished in the 9th inning and experienced his first international victory. The big game experience will also help the first Korean Series.
When asked what it would be like to compare the Asian Games final and the Korean Series, Ko Woo-suk replied with a smile, “Well, I think I like my mom or my dad.”
Ko plans to cut his long hair. “I was going to cut it when I returned home, but I couldn’t because I didn’t have time. I’m going to cut it,” he said. Speaking about his long hair style during the season, Ko said, “I missed the timing to cut my hair after WBC. So I’m going to grow it out once this season and cut it,” he said. After winning the gold medal, it’s finally time to cut it.
