BASEBALL TEAM SUSPENDS TRAINING IN JAPAN

[Anchor Lead]

The Korean baseball team Samsung Lions have suspended their training in Japan and returned to their base in the city of Daegu. Thorough disinfection measures will be taken at the team's training site before they start training this Wednesday.

[Pkg]

Samsung Lions pitcher Oh Seung-hwan shows up at the airport wearing a face mask. The Samsung Lions finished training in Okinawa, Japan, and returned to Korea. The team hurried to return to their home country after the Japanese government imposed entry restrictions on Korea in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

[Soundbite] PARK HAE-MIN(SAMSUNG LIONS OUTFIELDER) : "We were very worried when we heard about the serious coronavirus outbreak in Daegu, our base. We were exhausted not only physically because of changes in our schedule, but also mentally."

Upon arrival, the team embarked on a bus and headed to their base in Daegu. They will start training in Daegu and Gyeongsan after two days of rest. But before that, they plan to thoroughly disinfect their training facilities.

[Soundbite] HEO SAM-YEONG(SAMSUNG LIONS MANAGER) : "I told the players to avoid contact outside of the team and have meals inside the stadium."

Three foreign members of the team are to leave for the U.S. for individual training. They will join the team again two weeks before the start of the new season. Women's pro-basketball teams, which recently held matches without spectators, have also decided to suspend league games. Professional teams in four major sports - baseball, football, basketball and volleyball - are either postponing their new seasons or temporarily suspending their league matches.