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They waited 13 years for this shot in the Tokyo Olympics_Softball

Original title: They waited 13 years for this vote in the Tokyo Olympics

On July 21, 2021, Yukiko Ueno, who is about to celebrate his 39th birthday the next day, Eri Yamada, 37, and Yukiyo Mine, 33, once again stood on the Olympic stadium. For this glorious moment, They have been waiting for 13 years.

Legendary Japanese Women’s Baseball Pitcher Yukiko Nozomi

At 9:03 am Japan time, when Yukiko Ueno, the legendary Japanese women’s softball ace pitcher, threw the ball to home base, all doubts about whether the Tokyo Olympics could be held on schedule finally disappeared. The women’s softball match between Japan and Australia, held at the Fukushima City’s Agatsuma Baseball Stadium, was the “first shot” of the Tokyo Olympics. It played a vital role in Fukushima, Japan, baseball and softball, and even the entire Olympic movement. effect.

Choosing to start the first contest of the Tokyo Olympics in Fukushima, the host is undoubtedly looking forward to using sports events as a vehicle to showcase the new strength of the city’s post-disaster reconstruction; and for Japan, after so many hardships, it can return athletes to the Olympics. The facts of the stadium will also greatly boost the morale and confidence of the people.

Since the Japanese women’s softball team defeated the United States on August 21, 2008, they won the Olympic championship for the first time. It took 4,717 days for the sport of softball to truly regain its lead with the Olympics. In the long 13 years, softball players have been shuttled between hope and disappointment like a roller coaster, and finally through the hand in hand with baseball, baseball and softball returned to the door of the Olympic Games. In addition to the efforts of various parties, this result is not only due to the favorable policy of the International Olympic Committee to pursue gender equality, but also from the desire of host Japan to win gold in its own advantageous projects.

To be honest, compared with surfing, rock climbing, and skateboarding, which are also newly established events of the Tokyo Olympics, softball does not have the upper hand in terms of the universality of global project development and its popularity among young people. The participating teams also make this sport somewhat lonely. After all, other women’s collective ball events, football, basketball, volleyball, hockey, and handball, each have 12 teams participating.

However, after all (baseball) softball has become one of the 33 major events of the Tokyo Olympics, which means that more people will be familiar with, understand, and then like the sport. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebirth for softball, which is developing unevenly around the world and whose professional prospects are very uncertain. I believe that in addition to showcasing their own charm at this moment, the participating athletes will not think about it. As for the future, since baseball and softball are determined to miss the Paris Olympics three years later, the International Baseball and Softball Federation, the sports governing body, has set the goal of Nirvana at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games in the United States. Similar to the situation in Japan, softball is also the traditional advantage of the United States. They achieved three consecutive championships in the three Olympic Games from 1996 to 2004. More importantly, softball was born in Chicago, USA, and its first appearance on the Olympic stage was also in Atlanta in 1996. If you can seize these benefits, the future of baseball and softball is not gloomy. And if you want to usher in a new dawn, it is necessary to make good use of the big stage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

It is worth mentioning that on July 23, the coach of the Japanese women’s softball team Utsugi Reika will swear an oath on behalf of all the coaches at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games together with the coach of the judo team Yasuo Inoue. Formerly known as Ren Yanli, Utsumu Lihua was born and raised in China, and represented the Chinese women’s baseball team in international competitions. When she was 25 years old, she traveled to Japan eastward, acquired Japanese nationality 7 years later and changed her name to Utsugi Rika. As an athlete and coach, Utsugi Rika has helped the Japanese national softball team to achieve repeated successes. Her appearance at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will undoubtedly also play a huge role in promoting the development of softball. At the same time, with the emergence of more and more naturalized players in the field of competitive sports in China, how the controversy surrounding her will evolve will also attract attention.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Yukiko Ueno pitched the last goal in the final to help the team win the championship; today, she pitched the first goal for the sport of softball to return to the Olympic family. Maybe it’s reincarnation and fate, but it’s evolution and rebirth. It’s just that in these two throws, people have been waiting for too long and too long…

(Sohu Sports Guo Jian/Text)Return to Sohu to see more

Editor:

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