With 10,000 enthusiastic fans expected to pack the Taipei County Stadium in Sinjhuang this afternoon to cheer on their favorite baseball heroes, the 2006 Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) All-Star Game will take center stage to showcase the best and brightest of Taiwan's only true professional team athletes.
This year's highly anticipated mid-summer classic will feature an all-star cast from the North and the South, doing battle on North's ground with bus loads of fans from southern Taiwan starting to flood into the capital by yesterday morning.
The North, made up of the elite players from the Macoto Cobras, the Brother Elephants, and the Chinatrust Whales, will take on the top players of the La New Bears, the President Lions, and the Sinon Bulls to present the South.
Taking the mound for the North will be crowd favorite Lin "Little Chick" En-yu of the Cobras, the Most Valuable Player of last season and current strikeout leader (with 124). Standing opposite of Lin will be Lions staff ace Pan "Du Du" Wei-luen, who beat out Bulls righty Yang Jien-fu by a slim 112,687-to-111,165 voting margin for the right to start the contest for his team.
The rest of the top vote-getters for the North's starting nine are catcher Wu Jau-hui (Cobras), first baseman Tsai Fong-an (Elephants), second baseman Deng Shih-yang (Cobras), third baseman Wang Jin-yong (Elephants), shortstop Cheng Chang-ming (Whales), outfielders Hsieh "the Ugly" Jia-shien (Cobras), Chi Jung-lin (Whales), and Peng "Chia Chia" Cheng-min (Elephants), and designated hitter Tseng Han-chou (Whales).
Rounding out the rest of the South's starting lineup are catcher Yeh Jung-chang (Bulls), first baseman Hsu Guo-long (Bulls), second baseman Chang "Red Monkey" Jia-hao (Bulls), third baseman Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan (Bulls), shortstop Lin Chih-sheng (Bears), outfielders Tseng Hua-wei (Bulls), Chang Jien-ming (Bulls) and Chen Chin-fong (Bears), and designated hitter Huang Chung-yi (Bulls).
Iran yesterday withstood a late fightback to beat China 79-70 and win Asian Games men’s basketball bronze, an achievement that left their players “speechless” after months of war back home. China led 31-29 at half-time in Nagoya, but Iran took charge in the third quarter to lead 55-46 going into the fourth and held on to spark wild celebrations and an emotional place on the podium. “To be honest with you I’m just speechless,” said 202cm power forward Arsalan Kazemi, who in 2013 was the first Iranian to be drafted in the NBA by the Washington Wizards, but never made
HOMERS, HITS: Lin Tzu-wei and Yu Chang have had three-hit games in the MLB, but Lee topped them both and also went past Chang in home runs in a season Detroit Tigers infielder Lee Hao-yu on Friday set Taiwanese MLB records for home runs in a season and hits in a game as he helped his team rally past the Chicago White Sox 11-8. The 23-year-old went four-for-five with three RBIs and two runs scored, tying the game at 8-8 with a two-run homer in the eighth inning. The blast was his 10th homer of the season, while his four hits set a single-game MLB record for a Taiwanese. “When I actually saw it go out, I just blacked out,” Lee said in a post-game interview, recalling his reaction as the tying home
Thai women’s badminton player Pitchamon Opatniputh became the first known doping case at the Asian Games in Japan yesterday, testers said. The 19-year-old returned a positive test for banned substance furosemide and has been provisionally suspended, the International Testing Agency said. The teenager, ranked 18th in the world and regarded as a rising star back home, had been due to face China on Tuesday. The first full day of badminton action at Asia’s biggest sporting spectacular was on Sunday. “The athlete is prevented from competing, training, coaching or participating in any activity during the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026,” the ITA said. The agency noted
The president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) yesterday said that politics — in the form of a welcoming ceremony involving Taiwan — had already entered into the Asian Games. He did not sound pleased about it, speaking just hours before the official opening ceremony. Some events at the Asian Games began several days ago to accommodate a packed schedule and more than 17,000 athletes and officials. Up to 5,000 are housed on a cruise ship. “I don’t think, you know, the politicians or politics should be involved in sports,” said Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, speaking with media at the
RSS