The U-12 Baseball World Cup is to open in Tainan on July 25, with Taiwan hosting Cuba in the two teams’ first game in the opening round, the Tainan City Government said yesterday.
Taiwan and Cuba are to play the third Group A game on the opening day at the Asia Pacific International Baseball Training Centers in Tainan, the city government said in a statement.
Japan, Mexico, Australia and Germany make up the rest of Group A in the 12-team tournament held every two years by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).
Photo courtesy of the Tainan City Government via CNA
The defending champions — the US — are to play in Group B, along with South Korea, Panama, the Dominican Republic, the Czech Republic and South Africa.
Each team would play the other five teams in the same group in a round-robin format in the opening round, and the teams with the three best records in the two groups would advance to the Super Round, which begins on July 31.
In the Super Round, teams will carry over their records against teams from the same group, and each of the Group A teams would play each of the Group B teams.
The top two finishers would play for the world title, and the third and fourth-place teams would compete for the bronze medal on Aug. 3, the WBSC said.
In the 2023 tournament, Taiwan finished as runners-up, winning the team’s fourth silver medal in the seven editions of the U-12 World Cup, which was first launched in Taipei in 2011 and has always been played in Taiwan.
Taiwan won the title in 2011 and 2019, along with a bronze medal in the 2021 edition that took place in 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aside from Taiwan, only Japan, South Korea and Mexico have competed in all seven editions of the U-12 World Cup.
Although the US missed the inaugural edition, its team has won five of the six titles since.
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
Taiwan’s top women’s badminton doubles duo, Hsieh Pei-shan (謝沛珊) and Hung En-tzu (洪恩慈), achieved a straight-sets victory over Japan’s Kaho Osawa and Mayui Tanabe at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 300 Macau Open on Sunday. The Taiwanese pair won the final 21-18, 21-12, marking the duo’s second title this year after their win at the BWF Super 300 Taipei Open in May. The match on Sunday was their first encounter with the Japanese duo, ranked No. 63 in the world. Hsieh and Hung, ranked No. 12, began the opening game well. Hung, who plays left-handed, performed strongly at both the net and the
RSS