Taiwan's Chinatrust Whales were no match for South Korea in Wednesday night's exhibition action for the 2008 IBAF Final Olympic Qualification Tournament at Douliou as they lost 8-1 to an outstanding South Korean squad.
With South Korea opting to arrive in Taiwan early to play three friendly matches against the Chinese Professional Baseball League teams in preparation for the upcoming Final Olympic Qualification Tournament in Taichung (March 7 to March 14), the game against the Whales provided Team Taiwan with an excellent opportunity to scout on perhaps their toughest opponent in the entire tournament.
And South Korea did not disappoint, sending Kim Kwang-hyun from the SK Wyverns of South Korea's Korean Baseball Organization to the mound and humbling the marine creatures with an impressive one-hit effort from the lefty ace over four scoreless innings.
After Kim, four different South Korean hurlers entered the game to equally split the five remaining innings of play, allowing the lone run in the game for the Whales on a run-scoring fielding error by the shortstop with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, completely humbling the Whales.
Standing opposite Kim was Whales rookie starter Kao Jing-min, who started the game strong with a pair of scoreless innings before running into some trouble in the third by give up three runs on as many hits to fall behind 0-3.
He would last two batters into the sixth before being pulled on an eight-hit outing.
The South Korea pitchers kept the Whales hitters in check with one lone hit through the first four frames.
Even though they would end up with five hits on the night, none of the hits managed to knock in any runs as South Korea's pitching yielded no more than one hit in any single inning.
"It's hard to come up with any runs when the offense is limited to just five hits, none of which are strung together," Whales manager Hsieh Chang-hen said after the game, praising the solid effort by the entire South Korea pitching staff.
Next up for South Korea will be the dmedia T-Rex (formerly the Macoto Cobras) for its second match in the three-game exhibition series at Taichung on Sunday at 1:05pm. Tuesday night's meeting at 6:35pm with the Sinon Bulls is also scheduled for Taichung.
Brazil has four teams, more than any other country, in the expanded Club World Cup that kicked off yesterday in the US, but for SE Palmeiras, the competition holds a special meaning: winning it would provide some redemption. Under coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, Palmeiras lifted two Copa Libertadores titles, plus Brazilian league, cup and state championships. Even before Ferreira, it boasted another South American crown and 11 league titles. The only major trophy missing is a world champions’ title. Other Brazilian clubs like Fluminense FC and Botafogo FR, also in the tournament, have never won it either, but the problem for Palmeiras
Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in has pleaded with South Korea fans to get behind the team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after more boos were aimed at coach Hong Myung-bo despite leading them to qualification. South Korea reached next year’s finals in North America without losing a game, but that does not tell the whole story. The country’s soccer association has been in the firing line, having scrambled about to find a successor after sacking the unpopular Jurgen Klinsmann in February last year. They eventually settled on Hong, the decorated former skipper who had an unsuccessful stint as coach in 2013-2014, during which
Lionel Messi drew vast crowds and showed flashes of his brilliance when his Inter Miami side were held to a goalless draw by African giants Al-Ahly as the revamped FIFA Club World Cup got off to a festive start on Saturday. Fans showed up en masse for the Group A clash at the Hard Rock Stadium, home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, but Messi could not fully deliver, his best chance coming through a last-second attempt that was deflected onto the crossbar. Inter Miami next face FC Porto on Thursday in Atlanta, while Al-Ahly, who benefited from raucous, massive support, are to
Ferrari’s F1 fortunes might be flagging, but the Italian team start this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans as favorites, targeting a third consecutive triumph in motorsport’s fabled endurance classic. Roger Federer is acting as celebrity starter with the tennis icon getting the 93rd edition of the jewel in four-wheeled endurance racing’s crown under way tomorrow. Twenty-four hours later, through daylight, darkness and dawn, the 21 elite hypercars are to battle it out over 300 laps (more than 4,000km) in front of a sold-out 320,000 crowd burning the midnight oil with copious quantities of coffee and beer. Ferrari made a triumphant return after
RSS