Taiwan proved no match for South Korea in the Asian Games baseball gold medal game in Guangzhou, China, last night, falling short against their nemeses from the north 9-3, settling for the silver medal in this year’s competition.
South Korea wasted little time getting on the board against the defending champions when Jeong Kuen-woo led off the game with a single off Taiwan starter Pan Wei-lun (潘威倫), took second on a sacrifice bunt on the ensuing play and scored on Choo Shin-soo’s RBI single to take a quick 1-0 lead.
Taiwan would return the favor in the bottom of the first when Lin Che-hsuan (林哲瑄) reached second on an error following an infield single off South Korean starter Ryu Hyun-in and scoring on Chen Yung-chi’s (陳鏞基) single to left two batters later to tie the game at 1-1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
That was the extent to which Taiwan were able to keep pace with South Korea as their opponents plated their second run of the game in the second on Park Kyung-oan’s run-scoring single off Pan that chased the starter after just two innings, before tacking on four more in the third, highlighted by a pair of homers by Lee Dai-ho and Kang Jung-ho off reliever Chen Kuan-yu (陳冠宇) to take a 6-1 lead.
Even though Taiwan would get two of the runs back in the bottom of the fourth on the strength of a double by Chang Tai-shan (張泰山) and a single from Hu Chin-lung (胡金龍), it was not enough to change the outcome of the contest as South Korea overcame a sluggish fifth and sixth by putting up their seventh run of the game in the seventh inning, before increasing their lead in the ninth inning on Kang’s second blast of the game, a two-run shot off reliever Huang Chih-lung (黃志龍) en route to a convincing 9-3 rout.
A lack of timely hitting, coupled with the three homers given up by the generous pitching staff ultimately cost Taiwan the game as they batted a combined two-for-13 with runners in scoring position, not to mention the 15 strikeouts granted by South Korea’s Ryu and reliever Yoon Suk-min.
Picking up the win was Yoon, who entered in the fifth and completely shut down the Taiwanese hitters by scattering three hits over five scoreless frames to beat Pan, who did not show his best in the game.
Taiwan skipper Yeh Chih-shien (葉志仙) summed it up best after the game.
“The homers really hurt us tonight,” Yeh said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)