Not having the Taipei Dome is only one factor that might affect the nation’s bid to host the World Baseball Classic (WBC), the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) said, adding that the organizer would take various factors into consideration when deciding the venue for the tournament.
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) could today announce the host country for the international baseball tournament next year. The competitions in Asia are scheduled to take place in two venues, with one of them being in Japan.
The other venue would be in Taiwan or South Korea.
In an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), CTBA secretary-general Richard Lin (林宗成) said that South Korea has a better chance of winning the bid this time because it has raised its royalty for hosting the tournament and would host the games at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
Should Taiwan lose to South Korea this time, it would be in part because Taiwan does not have a venue like the Gocheok Sky Dome, he said in his interview with the Liberty Times.
However, Lin said that whether Taiwan has a baseball stadium like the Sky Dome is only one factor that the WSBC would consider when it decides the venue.
Other factors, including the country’s weather, its transportation system and its previous experience of hosting the tournament, would all be taken into consideration, Lin said.
Lin said that South Korea only became a viable host after it resolved the issue of its cold weather by building the Sky Dome.
Lin said Taiwan still has the advantage over South Korea, even though the association has never mentioned the Taipei Dome as a probable venue in its bid to host the international competition.
Lin said the association has proposed the games be held in Kaohsiung, which has fair weather.
Previously, the CTBA had proposed that the games be held in Taichung as well.
Apart from the weather, Lin said Taiwan has also raised its royalty for hosting the game.
Meanwhile, the baseball teams would not encounter problems in arranging accommodation, Lin said.
In addition to support for the tournament from the government and fans, Lin said that the association has accumulated extensive experience in hosting the game since 1999, which is a great advantage.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS