Ohtani held a press conference at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on the 26th (Korea time) and expressed his position on former interpreter Mizuhara Ifei.
Itpay, Ohtani's longtime interpreter, was fired on Monday for illegal gambling. "Itpay has been stealing money from my account and lying," Ohtani said in a press conference. "I never intentionally sent money to a gambling company or played sports gambling."
He also said, "I have never bet on other sports as well as baseball, and I have never asked anyone else to bet on me," adding, "I have never been through a gambler for betting, nor have I been asked by anyone else to help me settle my bet."
In his first interview with ESPN, Itpay said, "I confessed my gambling debt to Otani, and he later paid back my gambling debt, which led to Otani's name appearing on the illegal gambler's account." However, Itpay later changed its words with Otani and claimed, "It's a fact that Otani doesn't know anything about and he stole the account by himself." Otani's latest press conference reiterated his stance.
"The whole thing was a lie. Ifei didn't tell me about the media coverage and didn't communicate with me," Ohtani said, expressing his betrayal.
The relationship between the two, which began when Ohtani joined the Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2013, continued as a player and a personal interpreter when Ohtani joined the LA Angels in 2017. Since then, Itpay has served as a manager who takes care of all personal stories beyond just interpreters, but illegal gambling has given Ohtani a great sense of betrayal.
Immediately after the news conference, Ohtani headed to the training site. According to Japanese media Nikkan Sports, Ohtani played catch for the first time in seven months since August last year and also after elbow surgery.
Ohtani, who won the 2021 and 2023 American League MVP as a pitcher and batter, settled in the Dodgers with a 10-year, 700 million-dollar contract ahead of the 2024 season, the biggest contract in professional sports history. However, Ohtani received elbow surgery last year at the last minute, and plans to play as a batter in the 2024 season instead of a pitcher and batter. Catch ball on the day is the beginning of rehabilitation to return to the pitcher.
"Otani arrived at the training site with a glove in his hand and started playing catch ball. He threw 25 pitches at a distance of 20 meters. Afterwards, I consulted with medical staff and threw 25 pitches again, and finished the catch ball with a total of 50 pitches," the media said.
Immediately after finishing the press conference on his explanation, Ohtani neatly finished his first pitch after the surgery. He showed his strong mentality by taking care of important tasks one by one even when he might have been traumatized.
BY: 토토사이트 추천