After his Czechia national baseball team played Korea in two exhibition games in Seoul last fall, manager Pavel Chadim came away duly impressed with how things were run in a country where the sport has grown into a national pastime. With Czechia set to open the World Baseball Classic (WBC) against Korea in Tokyo on Thursday, Chadim spoke of the respect he has for his opponent. "Those were great games for us. I saw everyone in Korean baseball work together," Chadim said at his pretournament press conference at Tokyo Dome on Wednesday. "I saw big effort from the Korean side to be big on top. I have big respect of it because I know how hard is it to go up if you are down." Chadim then added with his typical playfulness: "I wish them all the best but not tomorrow." The manager announced right-hander Daniel Padysak as his starter against Korea, saying he is the team's best pitcher. Padysak, 25, played college ball in the United States, and will be playing in his second consecutive WBC after 2023. With Korea having been swinging some hot bats in recent exhibition games, Padysak said he was look