One of Taiwan’s most respected baseball coaches was questioned by prosecutors yesterday over his alleged involvement in a match-fixing scandal, officials and media said.
TV images showed head coach of the Uni-President Lions, Lu Wen-sheng, and his wife, Hsieh Fu-yu, being separately escorted by investigators to the Banciao District Court in New Taipei City for questioning.
Agents suspected that Lu’s wife had passed on details about the Lions, including the starting lineups and injuries to individual players, to the leader of an underground sports betting ring, Chinese-language newspapers reported.
The papers, including the Apple Daily, said agents and prosecutors had tapped the couple’s telephones for six months following a tip-off.
Lions manager Su Tai-an said Lu has been suspended as head coach for the time being while investigations are underway. Chief prosecutor Cheng Hsin-hung was not reachable for comment.
The Sports Affairs Council, the top government body in charge of Taiwan’s sports development, issued a stern statement pledging to “severely punish anyone damaging domestic professional baseball.”
If found guilty, Lu could be jailed for up to five years on charges of betrayal of trust.
The Lions have won four post-season championships since 2007 after Lu became the head coach, a record for a coach in Taiwan’s professional baseball history.
Taiwan’s professional baseball league took a hit in the middle of last year, when six former players and a politician were sentenced to jail terms of up to seven years following a match-fixing scandal.
Meanwhile, Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) yesterday reiterated the government’s determination to severely punish those who engage in game-fixing.
She said that the Legislative Yuan has passed an amendment to Article 21 of the Sports Lottery Act (運彩發行條例). Those compromising the fairness of the games through means of force, threat, fraud or other methods could be sentenced to one to seven years in prison and could also face a fine of between NT$10 million and NT$30 million.
“We have the determination to give professional players a clean environment,” Tai said.
Tai added that the council has been making structural changes to professional baseball since 2009, including setting up a free-agent system and a minimum-wage policy. Meanwhile, she said the council has worked with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Education as well as the Chinese Professional Baseball League and professional baseball teams to prevent game-fixing.
When asked who should be held responsible for the alleged scandal this time, Tai said that the system was “well-rounded” and Lu should be responsible for his own behavior.
“The regulations are there to lead people in the right direction, but they still make mistakes. One’s character should be an important factor,” Tai said. “He should be [held] responsible for what he did under such a well-rounded law. He is not a three-year-old.”
Additional Reporting by Shelley Shan
Kylian Mbappe struck from the penalty spot as Real Madrid beat a dogged CA Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday to make a winning start in Spanish La Liga under new coach Xabi Alonso. The France striker, last season’s European Golden Shoe winner, scored early in the second half, after he was fouled in the area by Osasuna defender Juan Cruz. It was enough to seal the points in Alonso’s first game in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Madrid now unbeaten in their opening fixture of a league campaign since 2008. “You can see that Kylian wants to do even more
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the
RSS