Korea manager hoping to see players grow at int'l baseball tournament in Tokyo

As Korea gears up for its final international baseball tournament of the year in Tokyo this week, national team manager Choi Won-ho said Monday he wanted young players to use the event as a learning experience. Choi led his team to the Japanese capital Monday afternoon for the Asia Professional Baseball Championship (APBC), which will run from Thursday to Sunday at Tokyo Dome. Japan, Australia and Taiwan are the three other participants. Korea will open the tournament against Australia at noon Thursday, and play Japan at 7 p.m. Friday. Korea will then take on Taiwan at 7 p.m. Saturday. After round-robin play, the bottom two teams will meet in the third-place match at 11 a.m. Sunday, and the final will be between the top two nations at 7 p.m. Sunday. The APBC is for players aged 24 years or younger, and teams can each bring up to three players who are between 24 and 29 years old or those with no more than three years of professional experience. For Korea, Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) players born on Jan. 1, 2002, or later make up the bulk of the team. The over-age players must have b