A total of 42 primary, high school and university teams participated in the finals of the 3rd Cross-Strait Student Baseball League (CSSBL), held in Shenzhen, China. The CSSBL is a friendship event between students from Chinese Mainland and Taiwan, from U-10 to university teams. This year, 21 teams from China and 21 from Taiwan gathered together in Shenzhen to play baseball and compete in the finals of the five categories. It is the largest cross-strait single sports exchange event today.
This tournament was divided into 5 age groups: U-10, U-12, U-15, U-18, and university teams. More than 100 baseball games were played in eight venues to determine the five champions.
Long Mingbiao, a deputy minister at China’s policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council PRC, attended the opening ceremony. After the ceremony, he told reporters: "Young people on both sides of the strait, students on both sides of the strait, and classmates on both sides of the strait can forge friendships and exchange feelings and can connect the two sides. It is very good."
Bright Future
The Cross-Straits Student Baseball League aims to use baseball as a medium for students to build a new platform for cross-straits campus sports. The baseball tournament encourages students on both sides of the Strait to increase their understanding of each other through their mutual enjoyment of baseball.
The event had four stages this year: the first in Beijing (April); the second in Chengdu (June); the third Taichung (August); and the Finals in Shenzhen. More than 200 universities, colleges, and schools from both sides of the Taiwan Straits participated in the competition and in the end, 42 teams and 899 players entered the finals.
The Cross-Strait Baseball Exchange and Cooperation Committee was established in 2017, when the first CSSBL was successfully held under its promotion.
