BASEBALLDECUBA.COM

Koji Uehara will be one of the most prominent pitchers in the japanese roster for the Olympic Games in Beijing.

The Japanese Olympic baseball team announced on Friday that Nippon Ham Fighters right-hander Yu Darvish, Yomiuri Giants right-hander Koji Uehara and Yakult Swallows shortstop Shinya Miyamoto among 39 final candidates for 24 roster spots.

Japan is expected to release the final 24-man roster sometime in July.

Japan will be looking for its first Olympic gold medal since baseball became an official medal sport in 1992. The country has won a silver and two bronzes with one fourth-place finish.

The Japanese will face three-time gold medal winner Cuba in its opening game at the Beijing Olympic tournament.

Preliminary Roster:

Pitchers: Koji Uehara (Yomiuri Giants), Kenshin Kawakami, Hitoki Iwase, Kazuki Yoshimi (Chunichi Dragons), Minoru Iwata, Kyuji Fujikawa, Tomoyuki Kubota (Hanshin Tigers), Yu Darvish (Nippon Ham Fighters), Yoshihisa Naruse, Shunsuke Watanabe (Lotte Marines), Tsuyoshi Wada, Yuki Kume, Toshiya Sugiuchi (Softbank Hawks), Masahiro Tanaka, Hisashi Iwakuma (Rakuten Eagles), Hideaki Wakui (Seibu Lions).

Catchers: Shinnosuke Abe (Yomiuri Giants), Akihiro Yano (Hanshin Tigers), Ryoji Aikawa (Yokohama BayStars), Yoshiyuki Ishihara (Hiroshima Carp), Tomoya Satozaki (Lotte Marines), Toru Hosokawa (Seibu Lions).

Infielders: Michihiro Ogasawara (Yomiuri Giants), Masahiro Araki, Hirokazu Ibata (Chunichi Dragons), Takahiro Arai (Hanshin Tigers), Shuichi Murata (Yokohama BayStars), Shinya Miyamoto (Yakult Swallows), Tsuyoshi Nishioka (Lotte Marines), Munenori Kawasaki (Softbank Hawks), Hiroyuki Nakajima, Yasuyuki Kataoka (Seibu Lions)

Outfielders: Yoshinobu Takahashi (Yomiuri Giants), Kazuhiro Wada (Chunichi Dragons), Norihiro Akahoshi (Hanshin Tigers), Norichika Aoki (Yakult Swallows), Atsunori Inaba (Nippon Ham Fighters), Saburo Omura (Lotte Marines), and Takahiko G.G. Sato (Seibu Lions).

Ray Otero can be reached at:elistas@baseballdecuba.com