Hosts Japan will enter the men's tournament as the world number one side and the baseball-mad country is desperate for a first Olympic gold.

They will face competition, however, from the likes of South Korea, who sit third in the world rankings and are in effect the "defending champions" after winning in Beijing.

United States can also never be counted out, despite the country not fielding the very best players from Major League Baseball.

The Americans are ranked fourth in the world, with Mexico, Dominican Republic and Israel completing the teams.

All six sides have been divided into two groups of three but no team can be eliminated at this stage.

Instead, the group action will determine the seeding of teams for the knock-out round.

Japan, Mexico and Dominican Republic are in Group A with South Korea, the US and Israel in Group B.

Both group winners will face each other, with the victor in this match going straight into the semi-finals.

The second and third-placed teams will also lock horns, with a losers bracket providing teams with additional chances to advance should they slip up.

Tomorrow's first game is Japan v Dominican Republic at Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium - which is part of Tokyo 2020's efforts to help revitalise the region after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster which devastated the area in 2011.

Two rounds of the softball competition also took place there but the impact was subdued due to the lack of fans at Tokyo 2020, as a result of coronavirus.

All other matches will take place here at Yokohama Baseball Stadium, starting with Israel v South Korea on Thursday (July 29).