A Taipei school has been stripped of its Little League title after accusations from rival teams over player eligibility were found to be correct, in a widening scandal that has coaches up in arms.
Muzha District’s Mingdao Elementary School was crowned the nation’s Little League baseball champions last month after winning the Hsieh Kuo Cheng Cup.
In their semi-final on April 18, Mingdao school, representing Taipei, trounced Greater Taichung’s Lising School 15-5 to advance to the final.
On April 19, Mingdao beat Chungping School from Taoyuan County 8-5 to capture the title.
The team’s clean-up batter Wang Yu-en was voted MVP for his two home runs in the final. Mingdao skipper Wu Shih-hsien was also given an award.
The win earned Mingdao the chance to represent Taiwan in the Asia-Pacific regional playoff, with the winner there advancing to the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
However, baseball journalists and managers from other schools found irregularities in Mingdao’s registration, saying that the team had fielded three ineligible players.
Initially, the school and Wu denied any wrongdoing, saying they had followed the the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association’s (CTBA) rules on player registration.
Wang and Wu were two of the players said to be ineligible.
Coaches and journalists uncovered that Wang had represented a Hualien County school at competitions when he was in the third and fourth grades. He transferred to Mingdao in September last year.
Under amateur-level rules, transfer students are prohibited from playing for their new school for two years to prevent schools from poaching top talent.
It was also found that two other Mingdao players transferred from other schools late last year.
Following weeks of press reports and complaints, the CTBA ruled earlier this week that Mingdao would be stripped of the title, as well as imposing a two-year ban on the team.
However, Mingdao is still listed to represent Taiwan at the Asia-Pacific regional playoff.
The CTBA said a decision on the team’s right to travel to the tournament is to be made at a committee meeting on Tuesday.
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