Taipei, Feb. 4 (CNA) Taiwan's national baseball team continued to toy with its roster Monday in its quest to find the lineup that will earn it a berth in the 2008 Olympic baseball tournament.
Manager Hung Yi-chung announced a 37-man training camp roster in prepartion for the final Olympic qualifying tournament, which will be held in Taichung and Yunlin in central Taiwan from March 7-14.
Taiwan will need to finish in the top three among eight teams in the tournament to earn the right to compete in Beijing.
"After a lengthy discussion with the coaching staff, we decided to expand the original 30-man roster to 37 as a number of young players have been playing well for the Select Team in Puerto Rico, " Hung said, referring to a team consisting of young and promising players currently training on the Caribbean island.
Expanding the roster will give Hung and his coaches a final chance to compare some of the younger players with battle-tested veterans before naming the squad's final 24-man roster for the qualifying tourney.
Taiwan finished an embarrassing eighth in the Baseball World Cup last November and finished a disappointing third in the Asian Baseball Championship last December, in which the top finisher, Japan, earned a spot in Beijing.
Although the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association failed to get permission from the New York Yankees to add Wang Chien-ming to the roster, the team will still have access to other hurlers who pitch professionally abroad.
They include Tsao Chin-hui, formerly of the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers who recently signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals, Keng Po-hsuan, who is in the Toronto Blue Jays' farm system, and Hsu Ming-chieh and Chiang Chien-ming who pitch professionally in Japan.
The team's training camp will start Feb. 11 in Taichung, Hung said.
Taiwan's main competition in the tourney figures to comes from Australia, Mexico, South Korea and Canada, though it is unclear how much their rosters will be affected by being unable to call up U.S.-based players.
England, Spain and South Africa are not expected to pose much of a threat.
China, the United States, Cuba, the Netherlands and Japan have already booked their spots in the eight-team Olympic tournament.
The complete 37-man roster for Taiwan's national team is listed below:
Pitchers (18) : Tsao Chin-hui, Keng Po-hsuan, Lin En-yu, Hsu Ming-chieh, Chiang Chien-ming, Chang Chi-chia, Huang Jun-chung, Pan Wei-lun, Yang Chien-fu, Ni Fu-te, Lee Cheng-chang, Lee Wei-hua, Lin Po-yu, Lee Chu-kuan, Cheng Kai-wen, Lin Ke-chien, Tang Chia-jun, Huang Chih-lung.
Catchers (4): Yeh Chun-chang, Chen Feng-min, Kao Chih-kang, Lin Kun-sheng.
Infielders (9): Kao Kuo-ching, Yang Sen, Chang Tai-shan, Peng Cheng-min, Wang Sheng-wei, Lin Chih-sheng, Chiang Chih-hsien, Lin Yi-chuan, Chang Chien-ming.
Outfielders (6): Chen Chin-feng, Hsieh Chia-hsien, Lo Kuo-hui, Lin Che-hsuan, Chung Chen-yu, Chan Chi-yao.