Baseball teams in Taiwan’s professional CPBL are to be allowed to play for full crowds, as stadiums are permitted to host fans at 100 percent of their seating capacity from Tuesday after having to cap attendance for the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the league said yesterday.
The green light to return to normal attendance was backed by a decision by the Central Epidemic Command Center to lift limits on the number of people who can gather indoors and outdoors in response to a stable COVID-19 situation in the nation.
The league on Friday told clubs that it had already verified with the Sports Administration that fan attendance at games can reach full capacity from Tuesday as long as disease prevention guidelines are followed.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
However, the exact date that the restriction at stadiums would be lifted is to be announced by the respective clubs, the CPBL said.
This is the first time since early last year that the CPBL has lifted restrictions on the number of fans allowed in stadiums.
When the pandemic began early last year, games were played behind closed doors before they were opened up to allow a maximum of 78 percent attendance in the second half of the season.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
This season saw a continued policy of allowing a maximum capacity of 78 percent, but the games were put on hold for two months starting in May in the wake of a spike in new domestic cases.
The games resumed in July behind closed doors before gradually opening up to allow 25 percent attendance and later 50 percent.
In yesterday’s games, the Uni-President Lions defeated the Fubon Guardians 6-5 at the Sinjhuang Stadium in New Taipei City.
At the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium, the Rakuten Monkeys beat the CTBC Brothers 6-4.
The Lions top the second-half table with a 26-3-17 record through 46 games.
The Brothers (47, 25-4-18) are 1 game behind, the Monkeys (44, 20-3-21) are five games behind and the Guardians (46, 18-3-25) are eight games behind the leaders.
The Wei Chuan Dragons (43, 17-1-25) are 8.5 games behind the leaders.
TOOTHLESS: Bologna never looked like finding a way back, and Antonio Conte and his substitutes were waiting to celebrate long before the final whistle SSC Napoli on Monday lifted the Italian Supercoppa with a 2-0 win over Bologna in Riyadh, David Neres netting both goals to earn the league champions a deserved victory over the toothless Coppa Italia winners. Neres opened the scoring with a stunning strike from distance six minutes before halftime and found the net again in the 57th minute when Bologna were caught trying to play out of defense. “We came here as champions of Italy, we wanted this trophy and we showed it with a great performance,” Napoli forward Matteo Politano told Mediaset. “We could have scored a few more goals, but
Backup quarterback Luke Weaver on Wednesday night threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Nick Cenacle with 10 seconds left, as the University of Hawaii rallied for a 35-31 comeback victory over the University of California, Berkeley in a thrilling Hawaii Bowl. Weaver entered the game after Micah Alejado took a hard hit on the previous play. With the Rainbow Warriors (9-4) in range for a tying field goal, coach Timmy Chang took a shot at the end zone, and Cenacle got between two defensive backs and made the contested catch. “How amazing is that?” Chang said. “It’s a program that is built
Fulham on Monday climbed away from the English Premier League relegation zone and left Nottingham Forest mired in the fight for survival after Raul Jimenez’s penalty sealed a 1-0 win. Marco Silva’s side started the day just two points above fourth-bottom Forest, but Jimenez’s first-half goal at Craven Cottage moved them 10 points clear of the bottom three. While Fulham’s relegation fears were eased heading into the Christmas schedule, Forest are just five points ahead of third-bottom West Ham United in the scrap to avoid crashing into the Championship. Forest had won six of their previous eight games in all competitions, with a
Barcelona wingers Raphinha and Lamine Yamal on Sunday guided the Catalan giants four points clear at the top of La Liga with a 2-0 win at 10-man Villarreal. Brazil international Raphinha won and converted an early penalty, before Villarreal’s Renato Veiga was sent off before halftime for a late lunge on teenager Yamal. The 18-year-old slotted home Barca’s second midway through the second half, as Hansi Flick’s side restored their advantage on Real Madrid and won an eighth consecutive league game. Villarreal are fourth after Atletico Madrid moved ahead of them with a comfortable 3-0 win at Girona earlier. “The attitude and mentality of
RSS