Taipei, Dec. 20 (CNA) Hung Yi-chung was named the new manager of Taiwan's national baseball team for the Olympic Qualifying tournament next year, a spokesman for the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) announced Thursday in a press conference.
Hung will replace Kuo Tai-yuan, who resigned Dec. 14 after Taiwan's subpar performance in the previous tournaments. The pressure to win an Olympic seed will fall on Hung's shoulder next March, when an eight-team qualifying tournament will be held in Taiwan.
Taiwan finished in eighth place in the Baseball World Cup and lost to Japan and South Korea in the Asian Baseball Championship, failing to earn an automatic seed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The 46-year-old La New Bears head coach will need to turn in a top three finish in the tournament, which will be held in Taichung and Yunlin from March 3-14, 2008, to earn the right to compete in Beijing.
"We will do whatever it takes [to win a place at the Olympics], " said former national team manager Hsu Sheng-ming, who served as the convener of CTBA's Selection and Training Committee.
Taiwan's roster for the tournament will have to be adjusted, CTBA Secretary-General Lin Tsun-cheng said, adding that it's expected that none of the 40 players on the rosters of U.S. Major League teams next spring will be available for the qualifying games.
Teams participating in the qualifying tournament will include Taiwan, Australia, Mexico, South Korea, Canada, England, Spain and South Africa.