Atlanta 1996 silver medallist Hideaki Okubo to manage Japan at WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup

Atlanta 1996 Olympics silver medallist Hideaki Okubo will manage Japan at the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup 2025 presented by RAXUS. He will succeed Toshihisa Nishi, who led Japan at the U-12 Asian Championship.

Born in 1969, Okubo was Japan's starting catcher. He hit four home runs and batted in 10 runs in nine games, starting the gold medal game against Cuba. At the time, he was playing for the Nippon Oil Corporation in the Industrial Leagues.

The Kintetsu Buffaloes selected Okubo in the sixth round of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Draft. He made his NPB debut in 1998 and played in parts of three seasons. He became a member of the Buffaloes staff in 2001 and coached the Yokohama Bay Stars in 2004 and 2005, before returning to the Industrial Leagues as a manager. Okubo led ENEOS Corporation to multiple titles. He later managed his Alma Mater, Keio University.

Okubo's staff will include coaches Takafumi Hayashi, Yusuke Takahashi and Toshio Ito.

Japan already announced their 18-player roster at the end of a selection process that started with a video screening (or digital challenge) of the approximately 190,000 registered players belonging to the All Japan Rubber Ball Baseball Association.

The Chinese Taipei Baseball Association will host the VIII WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup in Tainan from July 25 to August 3.

World No. 1 Japan will play in Group A and face No. 2 Chinese Taipei, No. 4 Mexico, No. 10 Cuba, No. 12 Australia and No. 17 Germany.

Group B includes No. 5 USA, No. 6 Korea, No. 8 Panama, No. 11 Dominican Republic, No. 15 Czechia and No. 31 South Africa.