Taipei, March 14 (CNA) A hard-fought 4-3 loss to long-time Asian rival South Korea Friday did nothing to diminish Taiwan's third-place finish in the 2008 Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament, at least not in the eyes of a sellout crowd of 15,000 in Taichung.
Taiwan battled to the last at-bat before falling, but the team no one expected to do well 10 days ago has regained the confidence of skeptical home fans by gaining an Olympic berth with its surprising 5-2 record in the tourney.
Trailing by one with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Chiang Chih-hsien's double gave Taiwan a last chance to send the game in extra innings.
But after Korean closer Chong Tae-hyon intentionally walked Chang Chien-ming, he got Lin Che-hsuan on a pop up that was caught in foul territory in front of the Koreans' dugout.
In last night's other game, Canada beat Germany 2-1 to draw even with South Korea at the top of the standings with a 6-1 record, but the Canadians finished as tournament champion on the strength of winning their head-to-head battle 4-3 on Thursday.
Canada, Taiwan and South Korea will join five other five teams -- host China, Asian champion Japan, European title holder the Netherlands and two teams from the Americas, Cuba and the U.S. -- in the 2008 Olympics in August.
Although Taiwan and South Korea had clinched Olympic berths prior to last night's tournament finale, neither wanted to lose the "meaningless" game, broadcast live in both countries.
Taiwan jumped to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Lin Che-hsuan smashed an RBI-double off the centerfield wall and scored on an error when South Korea failed to convert a double play.
It didn't take long for the Koreans to retaliate. They capitalized on two Taiwanese errors and two hits from their power hitters, including Lee Seung-yeop's double, off Taiwan's surprise starter Lee Chen-chang to take a 3-2 lead in the second inning.
Korea made it 4-2 an inning later when Kim Joo-chan stole second and third and scored on Ko Young-min's single.
Taiwan cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth when Chang Chien-ming scored on Peng Cheng-min's single after having walked and advanced to second on Lin Che-hsuan's sacrifice bunt.
Reliever Chang Chih-chia showed his best form since 2001, when he came out of nowhere and led Taiwan to the bronze medal in the Baseball World Cup. Chang allowed five hits in 6.1 shutout innings and twice picked off runners on first base.
"We didn't win this game but we did our best, " Chang said, also telling his fans that "the old Chang is coming back. I'm almost there."
Korean starter Kim Kwang-hyun, a 19-year-old lefthander, struck out five and gave up five hits before being relieved by Hwang Doo-sung in the sixth.
-- Final Standings: (* - clinched Olympic berths)
1. Canada 6-1*
2. South Korea 6-1*
3. Taiwan 5-2*
4. Mexico 4-3
5. Australia 4-3
6. Germany 2-5
7. Spain 1-6
8. South Africa 0-7