Members of Taiwan's World Baseball Classic (WBC) team were welcomed by Minister of Sports Lee Yang and more than 300 fans early this morning at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport upon their return from Japan.
Taiwan finished tied with South Korea and Australia for second place in the WBC's Pool C with a 2-2 record, but the Koreans squeaked through to the tournament's quarter-finals based on the tiebreaker: fewest runs allowed per defensive inning.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Although Taiwan did not advance, many fans still felt the four-game campaign — which started poorly with shutout losses to Australia and Pool C winner Japan — was a success because of a 5-4 extra-inning victory over arch-rival South Korea in the team's final game.
Upon arrival at the airport's Terminal 2, player Chen Kuan-yu and manager Tseng Hao-jiu accepted flowers from China Airlines ground crew on behalf of the team.
Fans gathered in the terminal's arrival lobby cheered for the team and its players while waving banners and flags.
They were most excited when outfielder Sung Cheng-jui held up the ball that he said was "the final out against South Korea."
One long-time baseball fan, surnamed Lin (林), said that she took time off from work to watch Taiwan's games against Australia, the Czech Republic and South Korea in Tokyo.
She returned to Taiwan yesterday afternoon before heading to the airport at night to welcome the team.
Lin said she was particularly moved by the winning run scored against the South Koreans by team captain Chen Chieh-hsien, who was a pinch-runner while recovering from being hit on the hand by a pitch in the game against Australia.
Another fan said Taiwanese fans in Tokyo were vocal, "turning Tokyo Dome into Taipei Dome."
While players who compete overseas returned to their respective teams, 18 players and their families, 10 coaches and Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang took a flight last night from Tokyo after the end of Pool C play, arriving in Taiwan at 12:03am.
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