The 36-year-old Darvish is the oldest player of the Japanese team in this classic match. Suzuki Ichiro especially appreciated him for passing on the spirit to the young players. The words reached Darvish’s ears. praise.
According to the Japanese media “Sponichi Annex”, Darvish officially entered the Padres’ spring training today. When he entered the court, his teammates including Manny Machado greeted him warmly and congratulated him. Among them, Martinez, who played for the US team (Nick Martinez), seeing the gold medal he brought, his face was full of envy.
The Padres team expects Darvish to shoot another warm-up match before the start of the season. Today he practiced defense and long-range shots of about 1 meter on the court. Speaking of the imminent return to normal life, Darvish said bluntly: “I am relieved, everything feels relaxed.”
Yesterday Suzuki Ichiro mentioned Darvish’s contribution to the Japanese team, “I am very happy to see that he joined from the first day of the training camp. In 2009, he was the only representative left. I think he will still participate in the next round. I hope the younger generation I can learn from him his spirit.”
Darvish said, “I’m very honored.” He said with a smile, “I thought Ichiro would never praise me. This sentence gave me a lot of confidence.”
further reading