`Dream` Team Sets Sail

Would the dream of the `Dream` national baseball team to win the gold medal in the 2002 Busan Asiad be come true?

The `Dream V` has finally launched. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and Korea Baseball Association (KBA) held a meeting on the 26th and confirmed the list of national baseball players for the Busan Asian Games. Among the 23 baseball players, who have been selected, 22 will be the final entries.

Kim In-sik, manager of Dusan Bears, who took charge of the national baseball team said, "The result of a doping test said that Jin Gap-yong reached a dangerous level due to excessive hormones. If there is no problem found after one more test, one catcher will be removed before the deadline for the final entry.

The newly launched national baseball team is 5th of its kind following its predecessors formed for the 1998 Asian Games, the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2001 Baseball World Cup in Taiwan. The 5th `Dream` team comprises a number of top baseball stars in the nation such as Lee Jong-beom, Lee Sang-hun and Lee Seung-yeop.

Among the members, five players are from Kia and Samsung each, and only amateur player selected is Chung Jae-bok, pitcher at the Inha University. Eight members including Lee Jong-beom and Lee Sang-hun joined the `Dream` team for the first time.

Despite their exquisite performance, Lee Jong-beom and Lee San-hun could not have opportunities to become national players since they advanced into the Japanese Baseball League in 1998.

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Kim In-sik, who took the helm of the 5th `Dream` team said, "The standard of selecting players was only the performance of players. I also considered the big picture such as players` defending or base-stealing ability. The new team might be short on pitching power, but long on batting power."

The national team is scheduled to start the joint training after the pennant race is over on Sep 28 in order to prepare for the baseball games in the Busan Asiad slated for Oct 2.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com