A jubilant Japanese team won the coveted Olympic baseball gold in Tokyo 2020 after beating the United States on Saturday.
No doubt millions of viewers watch it in a baseball-crazy country, as the home team won 2-0 at a largely empty Yokohama baseball stadium.
The win means that Team Japan completes a historic double with the women’s softball team already winning the gold medal.
The United States took the silver with the Dominican Republic taking the bronze.
Each winning team will receive a cash reward of 10 million yen (£65,000) in their long-awaited first Olympic gold in the sport.
Celebrations on the field showed what that meant for Japan, as the entire team plunged the diamond and lift coach Atsunori Inaba into the air.
Munitaka Murakami hit a singles kick at home outside the USA, starting with bowler Nick Martinez in the third inning to put Japan ahead.
Then Tetsuto Yamada slipped home in eighth to add a second run, beating the mark after mixing an American throw. Pitcher Ryoji Kuribayashi then saw the match safely as the United States failed to score.
Major League Baseball has chosen not to pause the season to allow its biggest stars to play in Tokyo, where the Americans are made up of minor league players.
One notable player, however, was Eddie Alvarez, who became the sixth player – and third American – to win a medal in various sports at the Summer and Winter Olympics. He won a silver medal in speed skating in Sochi 2014.
The United States has not won a gold medal in baseball since 2000 in Sydney, and prior to Tokyo, the host country had only reached the final in 1996, taking the silver. Japan also took bronze in 1992 and 2004.
Baseball has been an Olympic sport since 1992, but it was not contested in 2012 or in Rio four years later. It won’t happen in Paris 2024 either.
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