Chinese Taipei national baseball team

Chinese Taipei national baseball team
中華臺北棒球代表隊
Country  Republic of China
(competes as  Chinese Taipei)
Federation Chinese Taipei Baseball Association
(中華民國棒球協會)
Confederation Baseball Federation of Asia
Manager Hsieh Chang-heng (2012–)
World Baseball Classic
Appearances 3 (First in 2013)
Best result 8th (1 time, in 2013)
Olympic Games
Appearances 4 (First in 1984)
Best result 2nd (1 time, in 1992)
World Cup
Appearances 14 (First in 1972)
Best result 2nd (1 time, in 1984)
Intercontinental Cup
Appearances 10 (First in 1973)
Best result 3rd (2 times, most recent in 2006)
Asian Games
Appearances 4 (First in 1994)
Best result 1st (1 time, in 2006)
Asian Championship
Appearances 26 (First in 1955)
Best result 1st (2 times, most recent in 2001)

The Chinese Taipei baseball team (Chinese: 中華臺北棒球代表隊; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Táiběi Bàngqiú Dàibiǎoduì), is the national team of the Republic of China (Taiwan). It is governed by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association. The team is recognized as one of the best national baseball teams. They are currently the ranked third in the world by the International Baseball Federation, just behind United States and Japan respectively. They have consistently maintained top positions in international baseball competitions. The team is usually made of professionals from Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League, Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, and Major League Baseball or Minor League Baseball from the United States.

Due to hostile political pressures from Mainland China on international sports organizations, the delegation had to reach a compromise name, changing it from the National Baseball Team of the Republic of China (Chinese: 中華民國棒球國家隊; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó Bàngqiú Guójiāduì) to Chinese Taipei Baseball Team.[1]

The team has participated in many of the international and regional tournaments and has achieved many successes. It has won six titles in Asian Baseball Championship, a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and a silver medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Its recent success was the winning of the gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha in a sweeping victory by beating South Korea, Thailand, China, Philippines, and finally all-time rival Japan. They achieved an 8th place in the recent 2013 World Baseball Classic.

Tournament record

World Baseball Classic

 Taiwan
World Baseball Classic
Tournament Results
Japan 2006 12th
Japan 2009 15th
Taiwan / Japan 2013 8th
Medal Tally
Gold		 -
Silver		 -
Bronze		 -
World Baseball Classic record Qualification record
Year Host(s) Round Position W L RS RA Host W L RS RA
2006 Japan Round 1 12th 1 2 15 19 No qualifiers held
2009 Japan Round 1 15th 0 2 1 13 No qualifiers held
2013 Taiwan/Japan Round 2 8th 2 3 17 25 Taiwan 3 0 35 0
2017 Automatically qualified
Total 3/3 3 7 33 57 1/1 3 0 35 0

World Baseball Classic, 2006

Chinese Taipei participated in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. The squad included players from Major League Baseball. During the Classic, the team played in Pool A but ended up being the third place and did not advance. Their only victory was a 12–3 win over China.

World Baseball Classic, 2009

Chinese Taipei participated in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The squad included players from Major League Baseball. During the Classic, the team played in Pool A against the same teams as in 2006. After losses to South Korea and China, Chinese Taipei was eliminated from the tournament, finishing in 14th place.

World Baseball Classic, 2013

Qualification

Chinese Taipei was required to participate in the WBC 2013 Qualification as they were eliminated early in the game with 0 wins, along with Canada, Spain and Panama. Chinese Taipei was grouped in Qualifier 4 with other teams invited, Thailand, Philippines and New Zealand. Chinese Taipei won New Zealand in the first round with a 10-0 win. It then crushed Philippines 16–0. In the Qualifier Round, it met New Zealand again, this time beating the team 9–0 to gain entry into the WBC 2013, where the team is grouped with South Korea, The Netherlands and Australia. The team did not lose any points in the qualification.

2009 IBAF World Cup

Chinese Taipei participated in the 2009 Baseball World Cup, which occurred between September 9 and September 27, 2009. The team went 1–2 in the first round, losing to Mexico and Australia, but winning against Czech Republic. Chinese Taipei would enter the second round as a wild card. Chinese Taipei went 5–2 in the second round, pulling off victories against Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Australia, and Mexico. The team qualified easily for the final round, but finished in 8th place, going 1–6 and losing the match for a 7th place title.

Intercontinental Cup

The team's first appearance at the Intercontinental Cup was in 1973. Since then, the team has won two bronze medal, one in 1983 in Belgium and the recent one in 2006 in Taiwan. Taiwan did not participate in the 1975, 1979, 1981, 1993 and 1997 Intercontinental Cup. It is currently ranked 7th in the Medal Winner Ranking.[2] Cuba, Japan, Nicaragua and the United States remain Taiwan's four biggest rivals in the Intercontinental Cup.

As the host of the recent 2006 Intercontinental Cup, Taiwan won its second bronze medal after beating Japan in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup final 4–0.

Olympic Games

Summer Olympics record Qualification
Year Host Round Position W L RS RA
1984 United States Finals 3rd [lower-alpha 1] 4 1 28 5 1983 Asian Baseball Championship
1988 South Korea Preliminary 8th [lower-alpha 1] 0 8 4 12 1987 Asian Baseball Championship
1992 Spain Finals 2nd 6 3 67 34 1991 Asian Baseball Championship
1996 United States Did not qualify 1995 Asian Baseball Championship
2000 Australia Did not qualify 1999 Asian Baseball Championship
2004 Greece Preliminary 5th 3 4 23 28 2003 Asian Baseball Championship
2008 China Preliminary 5th 2 5 29 33 2007 Asian Baseball Championship
Final Qualifying Tournament
Total [lower-alpha 2] 3/5 11 12 119 95
  1. 1 2 No medals awarded; tournament was a demonstration sport only
  2. ↑ Totals only include years 1992 to 2008, during which baseball was an official medal sport.

Barcelona Olympics, 1992

On 26 July 1992 and the following ten days, Chinese Taipei competed against seven other national teams from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Puerto Rico, Spain and the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The teams played each other seven rounds and the top four on the table advance to finals. Chinese Taipei eventually advanced to the finals, beating Japan 5–2 in the semi-finals. It struggled in the final against Cuba, suffering an enormous defeat. The score was 1–11. Nonetheless, it won a silver medal which is still now its best result ever achieved in the Olympics.

Game Summary

26 July 1992 - Round 1, Chinese Taipei defeated Italy 8–2.

27 July 1992 - Round 2, Chinese Taipei lost by one run to the United States. The final score 9–10.

28 July 1992 - Round 3, Chinese Taipei sought its second victory over the Puerto Ricans. The score was 10–1.

29 July 1992 - Round 4, Chinese Taipei dominated the Spanish. The final score was 20–0.

31 July 1992 - Round 5, Chinese Taipei beat the Dominican Republic eleven to nothing.

1 August 1992 - Round 6, Chinese Taipei faced one of its two main rivals from Asia - Japan. It acquired its fifth victory by beating Japan 2–0

2 August 1992 - Round 7, in the final round, Chinese Taipei suffered another defeat to the Cubans. This time Chinese Taipei scored only one run. The score was 1–8.

4 August 1992 - Semi-final, Chinese Taipei defeated Japan 5–2 and would play against Cuba in the final.

5 August 1992 - Final, Chinese Taipei was defeated by Cuba. Final score 1–11.

Athens Olympics, 2004

Chinese Taipei qualified for the 2004 Olympics by finishing 2nd in the Asian Baseball Championship. The team ended up finishing 5th in the tournament.

Beijing Olympics, 2008

The team qualified for the 2008 Olympics by finishing 3rd place in the Final Qualifying Tournament.

On August 15, Chinese Taipei lost to China for the first time in an international baseball event. However, it had been suspected by DPP legislators that Beijing set up the schedule unfair to Chinese Taipei. Chinese Taipei was scheduled to play the latest game the day before. It was estimated that the players could only get three hours of sleep.[3] This allegation has been rebuked by the governing party KMT as playing politics over baseball games as well as by the International Olympic Committee as common scheduling practice. The IOC further gave examples of other games being scheduled in a similar matter

The team finished 5th in the tournament.

Asian Baseball Championship

Chinese Taipei has a very successful history in participating the Championship. It has twice finished in first place, 10 times in second place and 10 times in third. The team competed again in the 2007 Asian Baseball Championship which was held in Taiwan.

2009 Asian Baseball Championship

In the 2009 Championship, Chinese Taipei sought their revenge against their humiliating defeat by China at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with an obliterating win of 13–1, crushing the Mainland Chinese baseball team. They proceeded on to the finals against their old time rival Japan. Japan won the match and took the title with a narrow score of 6–5, putting Chinese Taipei in second place. In the final round of the tournament, Chinese Taipei defeated 2008 Olympic baseball champions South Korea with a 5–4 victory. Their next match was played against China, whom they lost to for the first time in history at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Chinese Taipei would end up with a 13–1 victory in 7 innings (game ended due to mercy rule) over China. The team would then play a final decisive game against their long-time rival Japan. The Japanese team won 6-5 and took the championship title, having gone 3–0 in the final round. Chinese Taipei would finish as the runner-up, with 2 wins and 1 loss in the last round of the tournament.

Asian Games

Chinese Taipei has not missed any of the Asian Games since its first appearance in 1990 in Beijing. In Beijing, it finished in first place, however, it was a demonstration sport thus it did not receive any medals. Its second appearance was in 1994 where it finished in third place. In 1998, it again finished in third place. Chinese Taipei lost to South Korea in 2002 in Pusan, South Korea and hence finished in second. It was by far its best result. At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, a game-winning walk off hit by Lin Chih-sheng helped to win its first Asian Games baseball gold. The team received seventy million New Taiwan Dollar from the Republic of China (ROC)/Taiwan government for their excellent achievement in Doha.They have finished in second place at the 2010 Asian games being beaten by South Korea 7-6 in the final.[4]

Doha Asian Games, 2006

Guangzhou Asian Games, 2010

Taiwanese players thank the home fans after losing the semifinal game to Cuba in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup

Uniform

Before 1984 1984 to 1999

Home

Away

Home

Away

1999 to 2003 2003 to present

Home

Away

Home

Away

Honors and recognition

Records

Name controversy

In 1954, when the team first participated in the Asian Baseball Championship, it competed under the name of United Team of Taiwan. Since the expulsion of the Republic of China from the United Nations in 1971, the National Baseball Team of the Republic of China was forced to compete internationally under the name of Chinese Taipei because of the People's Republic of China's diplomatic pressure through the One China Policy. In Taiwan it is both referred to as 中華隊 (hanyu pinyin: Zhōnghuá Duì; literally, Chinese (cultural) team) or 台灣隊 (hanyu pinyin: Táiwān Duì; literally, team Taiwan ).

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chinese Taipei national baseball team.

References

  1. ↑ "101 of Taiwan's Baseball". Taiwan E-learning and Digital Archives Program. 2006-11-16.
  2. ↑ Baseball - Intercontinental Cup
  3. ↑ Liberty Times (in Traditional Chinese)
  4. ↑ "South Korea feast on Taiwan pitching to take baseball gold". Reuters. 19 November 2010.
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