The U12 Baseball World Cup got under way in Tainan yesterday, with the traditional Little League powerhouse nations expected to vie for the title.
Twelve U12 national squads have arrived in Tainan to participate in the week-long tournament, organized by the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC).
The top three teams from the two groups advance to the playoffs after the opening round-robin games.
Photo: Tung Chun-chih, Taipei Times
Taiwan are in Group A along with Cuba, South Korea, Brazil, Venezuela and Russia.
Group B consists of Japan, the US, Mexico, Nicaragua, Australia and France.
The world title, along with the silver and bronze medals, are to be settled in the finale on Aug. 2.
All the games take place in and around Tainan, mainly at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium, as well as Shanhua and Guei-Ren stadiums.
Tainan Mayor William Lai welcomed the competing teams and the international visitors at a press conference on Thursday.
He said the Tainan region has a rich history and long tradition of playing baseball. With the support of the WBSC, Tainan could be built up to be the baseball capital of Taiwan, he said, as well as the “Williamsport of the East,” in reference to the Pennsylvania city best known for hosting Little League.
In the opening games yesterday, Taiwan beat South Korea 7-2 and Cuba routed Russia 13-0 in Group A, while the US thrashed Nicaragua 15-3 in Group B.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS