Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Taiwan national team departs for Dutch baseball invitational

Taipei, July 7 (CNA) Taiwan's national baseball team left for the Netherlands Wednesday to compete in the Haarlem Baseball Week, a biennial invitational tournament.

Highlighted by the addition of Hsiao Yi-chieh, a right-handed pitcher who's currently playing for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, the 24-member national team will participate in the tournament from July 9-18.

Cuba, Japan, the Netherlands, the U.S. and Venezuela are also in the six-team field. The top four teams will meet in cross-over semifinals after a single round robin preliminary round.

The unofficial tournament, which started in 1961, is usually used as a stage for Taiwan's amateur players to gain experience in international competitions. According to the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, this year's tourney will also be used to help prepare the national team for September's Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

Taiwan won bronze in the previous Haarlem tournament in 2008, its best finish in eight appearances. The U.S. has dominated the invitational with 13 golds, seven silvers and nine bronzes, followed by Cuba's four golds. (By Chris Wang) enditem/bc