The Chinese Taipei Baseball Team has withdrawn from the WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier, the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association has announced. World No. 4 Chinese Taipei would have been one of the top-ranked teams in the final Olympic qualifier, which will now be played with four nations.
"The newly implemented pandemic prevention policies prohibits the gathering of teams for practices has made our preparations next to impossible," the CTBA said. "We can conclude that this pandemic has finally given us a fatal blow and ended our Olympic dream."
The Final qualifier was originally set to take place from 16 to 20 June in Taiwan, but it was recently rescheduled for 22-26 June in Puebla, Mexico, due to Taiwan having implemented stronger COVID-19 countermeasures and restrictions.
The WBSC said that in light of all available information, the final qualifier will move forward with only four teams: world No. 6 Australia, No. 9 Netherlands and the second- and third-place finishers from the Americas Olympic qualifier that is currently being held in Florida.