Baseball official mum on finals

An International Baseball Federa-tion inspection official visited Tienmu Baseball Stadium yesterday but remained tight-lipped over whether Kaohsiung County would be allowed to host the closing game of the 34th Baseball World Cup.

The Cabinet recently proposed rescheduling the tournament's final, closing and award ceremonies and moving them from Taipei City to Kaohsiung County's Chengching Lake Baseball Stadium. The request sparked strong protests from the Taipei City Government, which has long thought it would host the finals.

"The purpose of my visit here is to meet with the Chinese-Taipei Baseball Association (中華棒協) to understand the progress of the improvement project. I won't be able to have the answer for you until I fully understand the situation," said Miquel Ortin, executive director of the federation.

The debate over who should host the ceremonies is the latest in a string of political spats between Taiwan's two municipalities.

Kaohsiung, where the DPP's chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) is mayor, has stepped up its efforts since President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) came to power to improve the southern port's reputation, prestige, and prominence.

During his third inspection tour to Taiwan yesterday, Ortin said that he was pleased with the improvements made to the Tienmu Baseball Stadium.

"I'm very impressed with the work done to it within such a short period of time. Although it's not in perfect condition to hold the game tomorrow, only small changes need to be made," he said during his visit yesterday.

According to Ortin, the improvements that need to be made include raising the height of the backstop, better maintenance of the grass and filling in a narrow opening along the outfield wall.

Although Ortin was scheduled to inspect the Hsinchuang Baseball Stadium in Taipei County yesterday afternoon, the visit was cancelled because he said that the current venue is in excellent condition.

The deputy director of the city's Bureau of Education (教育局), Chen Yi-hsing (陳益興), said that he is optimistic that there will be no change of locale.

"We received a letter from the federation in June saying that the original schedule cannot be changed," he said.

Richard Lin (林宗成), executive secretary of the Chinese-Taipei Baseball Association, expressed the same view.

"When we had breakfast with him [Ortin] this morning, he reiterated that the schedule cannot be altered," Lin said.

The tournament, which is co-organized by the city government and the baseball association, is scheduled to take place Nov. 6 through Nov. 18 in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Chiayi.