Tokyo Olympics: Japan stage late comeback to beat Dominican Republic in baseball opener

Image source, Koji Watanabe

Image caption, Japan鈥檚 professional baseball league has suspended its season to allow its players to compete at the Olympics

Japan staged a thrilling final-inning comeback to beat the Dominican Republic 4-3 in their Olympic baseball opener at the Fukushima Azuma Stadium.

The hosts are ranked world number one in baseball and have high hopes of a gold medal on the sport's return to the Games for the first time since 2008.

However, they were 2-1 down against the team ranked six places lower than them after the seventh inning, with Gustavo Nunez extending the Dominican Republic's lead at the top of the ninth.

Dominican closer Jairo Asencio allowed four singles and a sacrifice bunt in the ninth inning, which allowed Japan two runs to tie the game.

Hayato Sakamoto then struck a game-winning drive on a pitch from Jhan Marinez to seal a walk-off victory.

Both teams play Mexico in their final Group A game later this week. All six teams from the two groups advance to the knockout stage, with this opening round effectively determining seeding.