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Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani unveiled the identity of his new wife on Thursday, ending weeks of speculation after revealing last month that he was married.
The 29-year-old Los Angeles Dodgers player shared the first picture of his wife – former Japanese Women’s Basketball League player Mamiko Tanaka – as he boarded a plane with his team to head to South Korea for the MLB season opener next week.
The photo, posted on an Instagram story on Thursday, was captioned “Can’t wait!” in Korean followed by the national flag of South Korea as the two stood in front of the plane.
The two-way player, who is renowned as both a power hitter and excellent pitcher, sent his fans into a frenzy after he announced his marriage, without giving any details of his wedding or the identity of his bride.
He wrote on Instagram in Japanese: “The season is approaching but I would like to announce to everyone that I have gotten married.”
He said his wife was a “Japanese woman” and “who is very special to me”, urging the media to refrain from “conducting unauthorised interviews”.
The announcement left fans guessing who the woman was and the latest picture seems only to have raised the excitement levels.
“Shohei Ohtani and his wife, Mamiko Tanaka, really are so perfect for each ..so happy for the happy couple,” a user said.
“They both look happy. Let’s go Dodgers,” another said.
Nicknamed Shotime by fans, Ohtani joined the Los Angeles Dodgers after signing a record-breaking $700m (£558m) contract. With the signing, he became one of the world’s highest-earning athletes.
The Japanese baseball star has been described by many pundits as arguably the greatest player of all time, and is often compared to American baseball legend Babe Ruth.
The Dodgers will play Korea Baseball Organisation teams before facing the San Diego Padres next week.
