The U-12 Baseball World Cup starts in Tainan today, following diligent efforts from sports officials and repair crews to ensure that all facilities were ready after sustaining minor damage during Typhoon Danas earlier this month.
Tainan is hosting the international tournament for players under 12, primarily in Grade 6.
The competition organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) features 12 teams divided into two groups of six.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
The final is to be held on Aug. 3.
Today's openers involve concurrent games between Australia and Mexico, and the Dominican Republic and the Czech Republic at 10:30am, while at 2:30pm, Germany take on Japan and the US play Panama.
These are to be followed by the official WBSC opening ceremony in the evening, after which Taiwan are to face Cuba, and South Korea are to clash with South Africa at 6:30pm and 7:30pm respectively.
All games are to take place at the Asia-Pacific International Baseball Stadiums and Training Centers.
"We welcome all the participants from other countries, team delegates and organizing officials to Tainan. The players are to do their best to display their skills during the tournament," Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) told a news conference yesterday for media to meet with players and coaches of the 12 national squads.
"All the visitors from abroad can also visit Tainan's cultural sites and attractions, and taste Tainan's specialty dishes. It is the time to enjoy the many charms and appeals of this city," Huang said, as he also invited baseball fans in Taiwan to attend the games.
Huang also highlighted Tainan as the "baseball capital" of Taiwan, as the city is to hold the U-15 Asian Championship next month, as well as two international competitions later in the summer. The city also hopes to win the host rights for other large baseball events in coming years.
Huang and sports officials helped introduce players and team delegates at the event, while speeches were made by directors and diplomats from country representative offices in Taiwan. These included Czech Representative to Taiwan David Steinke, Mexican Representative to Taiwan Martin Torres, German Institute Taipei Acting Director-General Katrin Buchholz, and Masafumi Oku and Koreeda Kenichiro of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association's Kaohsiung Office.
The competition’s two playing fields sustained minor damage due to strong winds and heavy rain during Typhoon Danas, which required repairs.
Huang together with Tainan sports officials made a final inspection yesterday, conducting on-site checks throughout the facilities, including the fields, roof covering, outfield wall padding, audience seating, lighting poles, LED display wall, bullpen and indoor training rooms.
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