Masanori Sugiura
Masanori Sugiura is a retired Japanese Olympic baseball player from Kudoyama, Wakayama, Japan.
Sugiura was the ace pitcher of the Nippon Life Insurance Company baseball team, and was chosen to join the Japanese national team in the 1992 Summer Olympics, where he won a bronze medal. He returned to the olympics four years later, winning a silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Professional players were allowed to participate in the 2000 Summer Olympics, but Sugiura was still chosen as the captain of the Japanese national team, and the captain of the entire Japanese olympic team in 2000 Summer Olympics. The Japanese team did not win a medal that year.
Sugiura refused numerous offers to join the Japanese professional leagues, and retired in 2000. The Nippon Life Insurance Company baseball team won the Intercity Baseball Tournament twice during the 10 years Sugiura played with the team. He also marked a record five career wins in the olympic tournaments.
He served as a pitching coach for his team from 2001–2004, and became the manager in 2006.
