Olympic bronze medal manager Masatake Yamanaka re-elected as Baseball Federation of Japan President
The Baseball Federation of Japan (BFJ) confirmed President Masatake Yamanaka for another two-year term.
A star pitcher in his collegiate year, Yamanaka, 76, was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall Fame in 2016.
After serving as BFJ's executive director since June 2015, he was elected president in May 2018. Under his leadership, Japan has won the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup 2018, the WBSC Premier12 2019, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the World Baseball Classic 2023. The programme leads the WBSC World Rankings in men's and women's baseball.
He coached Hosei University from 1994 to 2002 and was also an engineering professor there. He also worked as a commentator for NHK from 1977 to 1993.
Yamanaka coached Samurai Japan from 1985 to 1990, participating in top international events, including the Seoul 1988 Olympics (second place) and two Baseball World Cups (1988, 1990). He managed Japan to a bronze medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
He was the managing director of the Yokohama DeNa BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) from 2004 to 2009 and served on the technical Committee of the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006.
Yamanaka's Executive Board includes secretary general Yuji Nagakubo, vice-president and executive director Masayuki Naito, vice presidents Kazuhiko Yatabe and Yuko Arakida, members at large Yuko Arakida, Kazuhiko Kuwabara, Misatoshi Kitamura, Yuichi Hirano, Shino Hirose and Hiroko Yamada, the WBSC Women's Baseball Development Commission Chair.
Cover photo: Shin Yamagishi.