Chinese Taipei aiming for fourth U-18 Baseball World Cup Title
TAIPEI, Taiwan | Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) vice president Hua-Wei Lin presented the team flag to manager Po-Hung Wu in a press conference held in Taipei City as the host team prepared to open the XXXI WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup on Thursday, 31 August, when they take on Australia at Tianmu Baseball Stadium in Taipei City.
Vice President Lin said, “This is a very tough tournament, and the playing level is really high. I sincerely hope that we, Chinese Taipei, will seize the opportunity and try to win the championship here in Taiwan.”
“Your great performance will lead baseball in Taiwan to another level,” added Lin.
Sports Administration Chief Secretary Chung-Jen Lu also expressed his appreciation to event sponsor E-Sun Financial Holdings, rightsholders VideoLand Sports, and ELTA Sports “for your efforts to spread the games of baseball to wherever possible.”
Chinese Taipei manager Wu was satisfied with the outcome of the training camp, “We opened camp in June, and now we are ready to start the tournament. I do feel that we continue to improve in hitting, defence, and pitching. Our players come from all over the place (schools), and we need time to get used to each other. We are ready to play competitive games after the long training.”
Third baseman and team captain Nien-Hao Wang stated, “I am ready to lead Chinese Taipei to the world championship, and I would like to urge our fans to come to see us play.”
“I used to be the player who goes for extra-base hits only. But in too many cases, I missed the fundamentals of hitting, and I lost my stance. Nowadays, I am different. I mainly look for the opportunity to contribute to the team,” said Wang.
He was drafted in the 1st round by CPBL Fubon Guardians this past June and signed to a 2.5-year, 7.3 million New Taiwan Dollar ($230,000) contract.
Manager Wu picked deputy captain Yi-Lei Sun as his opening game starter. “He’s the one who has both stuff and experience, and he is the best candidate for us to start the tournament.”
“I am ready,” said Sun. “My plan is to keep the pitch low and throw them off balance. Since there will be pitch limits, I do hope that I can be efficient and go as many innings as possible to help the team.”
Sun started against Japan during the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup six years ago,
“At that time, I was very nervous. Now, I won’t be like that after all these years and games.”
The XXXI WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup opening game between Chinese Taipei and Australia will be live on the WBSC GameTime OTT platform.
