Unable to protect a third-inning lead, Taiwan fell to a 2-4 loss against Japan in their third game of the 12U Baseball World Cup Tournament at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tianmu last night.
Tomoharu Moriya’s bases-clearing three-run triple off Taiwan starter Chen Po-chun sparked a four-run fourth that turned a 0-1 deficit into a 4-1 advantage, as the visitors held on to hand the hosts their first loss of the tournament.
Even though the loss will likely put Japan ahead of Taiwan in the chase for the top spot in Group A, it should not affect Taiwan’s chances of defending their title, with the hosts still very much in contention.
The showdown between the two previously unbeaten squads saw Taiwan draw first blood, with Guo Ding-hong singling off Japanese starter Hirokazu Kikuta and scoring two batters later on a double by Chen Chih-chun for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third.
However, the lead proved short-lived as Japan came back with four runs in the top of the fourth to claim a 4-1 advantage.
Taiwan managed to plate another run in the fourth that made it 4-2, but that was as close as they got as Kikuta tossed a scoreless fifth before his successor Kyosuke Yanagida struck out a pair in a futile sixth to preserve the victory for the Japan pitcher.
Tagged with the loss was Chen Po-chun, who cruised through the third unharmed before running into trouble in the fourth, allowing four runs on as many hits over four innings of play.
BRAZIL 3, CZECH REPUBLIC 0
Brazil improved to 2-1 in Group A play with a shutout win over the Czech Republic yesterday morning.
Lucas Massukado made the most of being hit by a pitch by taking second and third on a clean steal and a base hit respectively before scoring on a wild pitch by Czech starter Anezka Bartonova that made it 1-0 in the top of the third.
The run rattled Bartonova, who was charged with a pair of balks in what ended up being a three-run third to lose by the same score.
VENEZUELA 7, SOUTH KOREA 3
Venezuela surprised previously unbeaten South Korea by crushing them in Tianmu last night to ascend to the top of Group B with a 3-0 record.
Humberto Merentes’ RBI single off South Korean starter Jae Min-seo got things moving in the right direction for Venezuela as they erupted for four runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth to build a 7-0 cushion before surrendering three in the bottom of the sixth to lose the shutout bid.
In other games it was:
‧ Italy 12, Philippines 2 (5th)
‧ Panama 15, Russia 0 (4th)
‧ Hong Kong 11, Pakistan 9
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier