Taipei, March 6 (CNA) The already-depleted Taiwan national baseball team added two amateurs to its 24-man roster Thursday, one day before its opening game versus Spain in the Final Olympic Baseball Qualifying Tournament begins.
Team Taiwan, which has seen a number of overseas and injured players dropping out of the team, replaced pitchers Shen Yu-chieh and Lin Po-yu with amateurs Lee Wei-hua and Lee Cheng-chang.
Shen and Lin failed the medical test given by the Chinese Taipei Olympics Committee.
Team manger Hung Yi-chung immediately made the personnel change, saying that he would not risk the chance of players failing the in-game doping tests in such an important international competition.
The Olympic qualifiers will be played in the central Taiwan cities of Taichung and Douliou in Yunlin County from March 7-14, with the top three of eight participating teams advancing to the Beijing Olympics.
Taiwan is scheduled to meet Spain in Taichung Friday night.
Taking down Spain is expected to be relatively easy for Taiwan, which beat Spain 8-4 in last year’s Baseball World Championship, but beating other opponents will not.
South Korea, which features a strong offensive lineup, and Mexico, which has seven players with U.S. Major League experiences, are tough to beat. Canada and Australia, which won silver in the 2004 Athens Olympics, will both be hard to handle.
Germany, South Africa and Spain are expected to be the weaker teams in the tournament.
Pitchers Tsao Chin-hui, Keng Po-hsuan, Lin En-yu and Hsu Ming-chieh all decided to concentrate on their professional careers overseas, while Taiwan’s best hitter -- Chen Chin-feng and Hsieh Chia-hsien -- have also dropped out due to injury.
With the injuries and withdrawals, Taiwan’s once promising hopes for an Olympic berth will now rest primarily on the shoulders of a group of amateurs and untested U.S. Minor Leaguers.
The final roster of Taiwan national baseball team is listed as follows (club team in parentheses):
Manager: Hung Yi-chung
Coaches: Kung Jun-tang, Kang Ming-shan, Lin Kun-han
Pitchers (10): Yang Chien-fu (Sinon), Chiang Chien-ming (Yomiuri Giants) , Chang Chih-chia, Huang Chun-chung (La New) , Ni Fu-te (Chinatrust), Lin Ke-chien (Taiwan Beer), Cheng Kai-wei (Meifu), Lo Chia-jen (Meifu), Lee Wei-hua (Uni-President), Lee Chen-chang (TPEC) Catchers (2) : Yeh Chun-chang (Sinon) , Kao Chih-kang (Uni-President)
Infielders (7) : Kao Kuo-ching (Uni-President) , Chang Tai-shan (Sinon), Wang Sheng-wei (Brothers), Lin Chih-sheng (La New), Chiang Chih-hsien (Boston Red Sox) , Lin Yi-chuan (Sinon) , Kuo Yen-wen (Boston Red Sox)
Outfielders (5) : Peng Cheng-min (Brothers) , Chang Chien-ming (Sinon) , Lo Kuo-hui (Seattle Mariners) , Lin Che-hsuan (Boston Red Sox), Chung Cheng-yu (La New)