South Korea sink Japan gold medal hope

Slugger Lee Seung-yuop crushed a towering two-run homer as unbeaten South Korea shocked Asian rivals Japan 6-2 on Friday to continue their surprise march into the Olympic baseball gold medal final.

Lee, who earns his living playing for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan, may not be so welcome upon his return after sinking Japanese gold medal hopes with a two-run blast into the right field bleachers that keyed a decisive eighth inning four-run burst.

The surprise package of the baseball tournament, Korea has never before reached the Olympic final and will now have a chance to claim the last gold medal before the sport is dropped from the Games programme after Saturday’s final.

Korea will now await the winner of Friday’s other semi-final between three-times Olympic champions Cuba and their bitter rivals the United States.