Japanese Sports Briefs

Jan 6, 2009 - 2:51 PM (Courtesy of Kyodo News Service) TOKYO, Jan. 6 Kyodo ---------- Baseball: Former Nippon Ham right-hander Glynn joins BayStars TOKYO - Former Nippon Ham Fighters right-hander Ryan Glynn has been acquired by the Yokohama BayStars, the Central League club said Tuesday. Glynn has signed a one-year deal with the BayStars carrying a salary of $900,000 plus performance bonuses. ---------- Baseball: Home run king Murata re-signs for hefty pay raise TOKYO - Yokohama BayStars infielder Shuichi Murata, who won the Central League home run title for the second year in a row, re-signed for a salary worth 260 million yen plus performance incentives -- a whopping 100 million yen pay raise from 2008. The details of the agreement had already been worked out by Murata's agent and the CL club by the end of last year.

---------- Wrestling: Yamamoto to make comeback to women's wrestling

TOKYO - Former world champion women's wrestler Seiko Yamamoto has decided to come out of retirement, her management company said Tuesday. Yamamoto, who retired in July 2006, is scheduled to formally announce her comeback at a press conference on Wednesday.

---------- Soccer: Japan striker Okubo up for challenge at Wolfsburg

WOLFSBURG, Germany - Japan striker Yoshito Okubo, who has completed a transfer from Vissel Kobe to Wolfsburg, said Monday he had been hoping to play for the German first-division club from the first time he was approached. ''When I was approached I was thinking that I would like to go. What really motivated me was directly talking with (coach Felix) Magath,'' Okubo said at a press conference after undergoing a medical.

---------- Suspended terms finalized for 3 ex-sumo wrestlers over fatal hazing

NAGOYA - Suspended jail terms for three former sumo wrestlers over the fatal hazing of a 17-year-old stablemate were finalized Tuesday, as both prosecutors and defense counsel did not appeal the ruling by the Monday deadline. The Nagoya District Court last month sentenced Yuichiro Izuka, 26, Masakazu Kimura, 25, and Masanori Fujii, 23, to two-and-a-half to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for the death of Takashi Saito, given the ring name Tokitaizan, in June 2007 in Aichi Prefecture.