2009 Asian Championship

The 2009 Asian Championship was held from July 27 through August 3, 2009 in Sapporo, Japan. The Level B consisted of  Indonesia,  Philippines,  Thailand and  Japan, with the winner facing  Chinese Taipei,  People's Republic of China and  South Korea in the Level A round. The top six teams qualified for the 2010 Asian Games. Japan won its fourth straight Asian Championship.

Taiwan's roster consists of Wen-Yang Liao, Chen-Hua Lin, Chih-Lung Huang, Yu-Ching Lin, Ching-Ming Wang, Yi-Cheng Wang, Chu-Chien Hsu, Ming-Chin Lee, Kun-Sheng Lin, Hung-Yu Lin, Hsin-Min Wang, Han Lin, Chih-Hsiang Lin, Po-Yu Lo, Kuo-Min Lin, Ming-Jen Kuo, Chia-Hao Chang, Chih-Hao Chang, Tsung-Chun Wu and Keng-Wei Lin. They are managed by Chih-Hsien Yeh with coaches Wei-Cheng Chen, Taigen Kaku and Jung-Tang Kang.

China is managed by Jiao Yi with coaches Tai-Chuan Chiang, Jinsheng Zhang and Kosuke Matsuoka. Their roster consists of Jiangang Lu, Changlong Su, Wanjun Zhang, Ziliang Li, ?, Wenming Li, Kai Wang, Zhenwang Zhang, Min Ren, Fenglian Hou, Guogang Yang, Yunlong Xu, Jianzhong Liu, Yubin Luo, Zhicheng Liu, Chao Wang, Zhaopeng Meng, ? and ?.

Japan is managed by Yasuhiko Sugimoto with coaches Etsuro Sugawara, Tetsuya Okubo and Hiroyuki Sakaguchi. Their team has the following players: Tomoyuki Sugano, Reo Moriyasu, Yodai Enoshita, Masahiro Inui, Hirokazu Sawamura, Nao Higashihama, Kazuhito Futagami, Yusuke Nomura, Yuhei Nakaushiro, Kenji Suzuki, Go Yamaoka, Sho Ueno, Komei Sawamura, Shiro Mori, Kentaro Miyazawa, Tsutomo Sasaki, Kenichi Yokoyama, Hisayoshi Chono, Takashi Ogino, Keiji Ikebe, Ikuhiro Kiyota and Sho Aranami.

Results

• July 27:
  •  Japan 12,  Philippines 0 - Keiji Ikebe clouts a 3-run homer
  •  Thailand 6,  Indonesia 1
• July 28:
  •  Japan 12,  Thailand 0 - Ikuhiro Kiyota homers twice, triples once and drives in four
  •  Philippines 6,  Indonesia 1 - Darwin dela Calzada goes the distance for the win
• July 29:
  •  Japan 13,  Indonesia 0 - Hisayoshi Chono hits a grand slam
  •  Philippines 8,  Thailand 0

Japan advances to the second round with a 3-0 record. The Philippines (2-1) and Thailand (1-2) qualify for the 2010 Asian Games. Indonesia (0-3) goes home empty.

• August 1:
  •  Chinese Taipei 5,  South Korea 4 - Tsung-Chun Wu cracks a 2-run homer and drives in 3. Kuo-Min Lin hits the winning double in the 9th.
  •  Japan 4,  People's Republic of China 0
• August 2:
  •  South Korea 8,  People's Republic of China 1
  •  Japan 6,  Chinese Taipei 5 - Ikuhiro Kiyota hits his 3rd homer of the tourney, a 2-run job. Chu-Chien Hsu gives up 3 runs in the first two innings. Ming-Jen Kuo delivers a solo home run for Taiwan. In the 10th, PH Yoshinobu Kotegawa doubles in the winner against Ching-Ming Wang.
• August 3:
  •  Japan 7,  South Korea 1 - Hirokazu Sawamura allows two hits and one run in eight innings for the win.
  •  Chinese Taipei 13,  People's Republic of China 1

Japan wins the Gold Medal. Taiwan wins Silver and South Korea Bronze.

Final Standings

1.  Japan, 6-0
2.  Chinese Taipei, 2-1
3.  South Korea, 1-2
4.  People's Republic of China, 0-3
5.  Philippines, 2-1 (round 1)
6.  Thailand, 1-2 (round 1)
7.  Indonesia, 0-3 (round 1)

Awards

Round One

• MVP: Hisayoshi Chono, Japan

• Best Players: Reo Moriyasu (JPN), Yodai Enoshita (JPN), Darwin dela Calzada (PHI), Ruben Angeles (PHI), Jonash Ponce (PHI), Krissada Heebthong (THA), Teerasak Kongsabai (THA), Ahmed Effendy (IND), Adi Susanto (IND)

Round Two

• MVP: Ikuhiro Kiyota, Japan

• Best Average: Ikuhiro Kiyota, Japan .600
• Best ERA: Wen-Yang Liao, Taiwan
• Most Strikeouts: Yusuke Nomura, Japan 10
• Most RBI: Chung-Chun Wu, Taiwan 7
• Most HR: Chung-Chun Wu, Taiwan 2
• Fighting Spirits Award: Yubin Luo, China

All-Stars

• C: Tae-won Lee, Korea
• 1B: Tsutomu Sasaki, Japan
• 2B: Ming-Jen Kuo, Taiwan
• SS: Han Lin, Taiwan
• 3B: Kentaro Miyazawa, Japan
• OF: Ikuhiro Kiyota, Japan
• OF: Chung-Chun Wu, Taiwan
• OF: Hang-yong Im, Korea
• DH: Hung-Yu Lin, Taiwan
• RHP: Tomoyuki Sugano, Japan
• LHP: Yoon-ji Woong, Korea