Taiwan catcher Lyle Lin yesterday announced that he has signed a minor-league contract with the Oakland Athletics and received an invitation to spring training, which has led to his withdrawal from Taiwan’s squad for the World Baseball Classic (WBC) qualifiers.
The contract, which includes his first major-league spring training invitation since being drafted in 2019, requires him to fully attend the team’s spring training facility in Phoenix, Arizona, Lin wrote on Facebook.
He apologized for any inconvenience caused to the national team and expressed gratitude to head coach Tseng Hao-chu for giving him another opportunity to join the national team after his role in the squad who won the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship against Japan in November last year.
Photo: CNA
Lin also thanked Taiwanese baseball fans for their support, which he said had helped the team secure the Premier12 championship despite being underdogs.
He urged fans to continue supporting him just as they cheer for the national team, pledging to live up to their expectations and never give up.
“I am proud to be a part of Team Taiwan. We are Team Taiwan,” he wrote.
Photo: CNA
CPBL president Tsai Chi-chang expressed his full support for Lin’s decision.
In addition to Lin, infielder Cheng Tsung-che has also withdrawn from the initial 36-player training roster, Tsai said.
The WBC qualifiers are to begin in Taipei on Friday next week, with Taiwan to play Spain at 7pm at the Taipei Dome. They face South Africa and Nicaragua over the following two days at the same venue.
Photo: CNA
Fenerbahce on Thursday earned a rare 2-1 win in England, but were still knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Nottingham Forest in the playoffs. Forest entered the second leg with a healthy 3-0 lead from the opener in Istanbul — where Vitor Pereira made an impact in his first game in charge — and that proved enough to advance to the round-of-16 with a 4-2 aggregate score. The result was a boost for Forest, struggling at 17th place in the Premier League, in their return to Europe after three decades. They next face Real Betis Balompie or Kerem Akturkoglu gave Fenerbahce
Soccer officials yesterday offered “full support and assistance” to the Iranian team in Australia for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup after the US and Israel launched massive attacks on their homeland. Iran’s 26-strong squad arrived on the Gold Coast days before the strikes on Saturday killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Washington and Tel Aviv seek to topple the Islamic republic. They are due to open their tournament today against South Korea. The AFC in a statement said it “continues to closely monitor the recent developments in the Middle East during this challenging period.” “The AFC’s foremost priority remains the welfare, safety and
ROAD RASH: Marc Marquez retired after a crash, marking the first time after 88 consecutive races stretching back to 2021 that a Ducati bike failed to make the podium Marco Bezzecchi yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening grand prix in Thailand from pole position as defending world champion Marc Marquez retired late with a buckled wheel. Aprilia’s Bezzecchi led from start to finish to top the podium in Buriram, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta second and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez third. Ducati’s Marquez is chasing a record-equaling eighth world title this season, but he exited the race in dramatic fashion while in fourth place with five laps to go. The Spaniard, who started from second on the grid, took a corner wide, with the jolt to his bike dislodging the rear tire, badly damaging his
EVERY DAY A VICTORY: Players on the women’s team faced pressure from society just getting out onto the field as they prepare for their first Women’s Asian Cup game today Bangladesh’s national soccer team face daunting odds at their first-ever Women’s Asian Cup, but have already scored a major victory by qualifying. In the South Asian nation of 170 million, social stigma, family expectations, poverty and religious hardliners have long relegated women and girls to sports sidelines. The first women’s soccer league matches took place in 2011 and the squad, known to fans as the Red and Green, have kept pressing forward despite deeply embedded prejudices. “Many more girls would have joined us if the community had been even slightly supportive,” captain Afeida Khandaker told AFP ahead of her side’s March 3
RSS