The 22 baseball players representing Taiwan at next month's Asian Games were finalized yesterday afternoon, with two pitchers stationed abroad given clearance to return for the event.
Left-hander Kuo Hong-chih (
Coach of the national baseball team Yang Hsien-ming (楊賢銘) had planned to invite five players signed with foreign teams to play for the nation, but Chen Chin-feng (陳金鋒) of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chang Chih-chia (張誌家) of Japan's Seibu Lions and Hsu Ming-chieh (許銘傑) of Seibu were denied leave.
The 14th Asian Games will be held from Sept. 29 to Oct. 14 in Busan, South Korea.
The Cabinet-level National Council of Physical Fitness and Sports (
More than 400 Taiwanese athletes and coaches are expected to travel to the biggest sports event in Asia.
At the previous Games, held in Bangkok, Thailand, four years ago, Taiwan won 19 gold, 17 silver and 41 bronze medals, a record for the country.
Lin Teh-chia (林德嘉), vice chairman of the sports council, said this year the nation's athletes might not perform as well as in 1998, but he was confident it would do well in weightlifting, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball and pool.
Seibu rookie Chang, meanwhile, set a Japanese professional baseball record on Monday, striking out batters in 28 straight innings.
On Aug. 9, Chang tied the old record of 23 consecutive innings set by Yutaka Enatsu of Seibu in 1968 and Isamu Kita of Nippon Ham in 1980.
In Monday's game against Lotte, Chang struck out eight batters in five straight innings to help the Seibu win the game 5-4.
His results so far this season are seven wins, one loss and one successful relief pitching. He said his target for this season is 10 wins.
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