(BEIJING, August 21) -- Tournament leaders the Republic of Korea play fourth-placed Japan in semifinal one and second-placed Cuba face third-place finishers team USA in semifinal two at Wukesong Baseball Field on Friday, August 22.

　　The Republic of Korea puts its perfect record on the line against continental rival Japan at Wukesong Baseball Field in the first semifinal of the Beijing 2008 Olympic tournament at 10:30 a.m. (UCL/GMT +8).

　　The Republic of Korea (7-0) is the only undefeated team in the tournament and finished first overall in the round-robin standings.

　　Japan (4-3) finished fourth overall after losing to Team USA 4-2 in a game that featured the new extra-innings rule. Their three losses were delivered by the top three teams -- the Republic of Korea, Cuba and the United States.

　　The Republic of Korea defeated Japan 5-3 in the preliminary stages on day four.

　　The Republic of Korea's team batting average is .286, putting them in second place overall, while Japan's team batting average is .242, putting them in fourth place overall.

　　Japan is top of the table in fielding with a percentage of .988, five double plays and a total of three errors.

　　Wakui Hideaki of Japan is the tournament win/loss leader with two wins having pitched 13 innings.

　　The Republic of Korea's Lee Dae-ho is the tournament homerun leader with three. He is second in the slugging percentage stakes with .905 and has the second highest number of RBIs in the tournament with 10.

　　The winner of this game will go through to the gold medal game at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 23. The loser will play for the bronze medal at 10:30 a.m. the same day.

　　Cuba looks to elude its neighbor to the north, the United States, in a match-up of the only teams to win previous Olympic gold in this event in Semifinal 2 at 6:00 p.m.

　　Cuba (6-1) is in second place overall, having lost just one game to tournament leaders the Republic of Korea.

　　USA (5-2) finished third overall after they defeated Japan 4-2 in a game which featured the new extra-innings rule. Their two losses were delivered by tournament leaders the Republic of Korea and Cuba.

　　Cuba defeated the United States 5-4 when they met in the preliminary stages on day three, a game in which the extra-innings rule came into play.

　　Cuba leads the tournament in batting statistics with a team batting average of .300, 72 hits, a slugging percentage of .517 and an on-base percentage of .395. Cuba has also taken 33 bases on balls.

　　Cuba has scored the most runs in the tournament with 52.

　　The United States are third in team batting statistics with a team batting average of .286, 69 hits, a slugging percentage of .444 and an on base percentage of .339, and their pitching staff are second overall with an earned-run average of 2.19 while Cuba's pitchers are ranked fourth with an ERA of 2.66.

　　Alexei Bell of Cuba is the tournament batting average leader with a .520 percentage and a slugging percentage of .960. He has scored the second highest number of runs in the tournament with eight.

　　The winner of this game will also go through to the gold medal game at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 23. The loser will play for the bronze medal at 10:30 a.m. that same day.