Taiwan tournament wins praise from president of IBAF

In an exclusive interview with the Taipei Times, IBAF president Harvey Schiller said he was pleased with the overall outcome of this week's Olympic qualifiers in Taiwan and praised Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) organizers and officials for their work during the event -- as well as Taiwanese fans.

"The support you get for baseball here is like nowhere else in the world. The energy at the games is great," Schiller said.

The tournament, which sent Canada, South Korea and Taiwan to Beijing -- was generally well-organized but not without its share of controversy.

Several team coaches complained about scheduling, arguing that the event's timing prevented them from selecting players found on MLB 40-man rosters.

Australian manager John Deeble was a particularly vocal critic of the tournament's set up, complaining of poor access to far-away training facilities, schedule bias toward the Taiwanese team, and player availability issues.

UMPIRES UNDER FIRE

The tournament's umpires came in for some criticism from players, coaches and scouts in attendance, many of whom also argued that Latin American teams should have had better talent on their rosters during the qualifier's opening rounds.

Schiller responded, claiming he had made the best of a difficult situation he had inherited, and that future events would require enhanced cooperation with professional leagues in order to improve scheduling and availability of talent for national team rosters.

He stood by his umpires, saying he was "proud of his umpires' work" during the tournament, and noted that future training would utilize software creating virtual situations to improve decision making during game time.

He also said rules would have to be revised regarding collision-style plays at the plate.

TV COVERAGE

Schiller went on to stress the need for improved TV coverage internationally, further development of the IBAF Web site, continued anti-doping measures and increased funding and transparency in operations from Latin American governments to ensure better funding of teams and better rosters from countries with a wealth of baseball talent such as the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

All in all, Schiller lauded the tournament as a success, largely thanks to the vocal and supportive Taiwanese crowds and the media coverage -- and he praised the CTBA's handling of operations in a lunch meeting with Taichung Mayor Jason Hu, IBAF secretary-general John Ostermeyer and a number of CTBA officials.

"The officials and the organizer here have proven that they know how to run a good tournament. I met with the mayor and had lunch and he wants as many tournaments as possible here. I'm very happy with the CTBA's efforts and they do a very effective job of running the tournament" he said.