The controversial disqualification of a junior baseball team from a tournament has prompted protests in Greater Tainan and New Taipei City (新北市) and is now pitting two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers against one another.
The New Taipei City team was disqualified from the Hsieh Guo-cheng Cup junior baseball tournament for boys aged 11 and 12 on May 1 because two of their players forgot to bring their ID card as required, but were nevertheless allowed to stay in the tourney, and went on to defeat Greater Tainan two games in a row on Thursday and Friday to win the competition.
Team Greater Tainan say the team from New Taipei City should have been immediately disqualified and they filed a protest before meeting New Taipei City in the title series.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The technical committee of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) did not discuss the case until Friday and announced after the meeting that New Taipei City were disqualified, adding that the teams from Greater Tainan, Greater Kaohsiung, Pingtung County and Taipei would have to play an additional round to determine the winners.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), who represents a constituency in Greater Tainan, called a press conference yesterday and said that despite the disqualification, Greater Tainan should replace New Taipei City as the champions, according to past practice and because they had defeated New Taipei City twice.
However, DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), who was elected in New Taipei City, said at a separate press conference that his hometown team should retain the title because they were allowed to stay in the tourney.
Players on the New Taipei City team were heartbroken after learning of their disqualification and losing a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to represent the country at a global tournament, Gao said.
Each year, the champions of the Hsieh Guo-cheng Cup go on to represent Taiwan at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
The Sports Affairs Council has demanded that the CTBA review the case, said Hu Chih-pang (胡啟邦), director of the council’s Department of Competitive Athletics.
The technical committee has made what it assessed to be the most appropriate and fair decision for all participating teams by holding additional games to determine the winners, committee deputy convener Yeh Chih-hsien (葉志仙) said.
However, in a statement published on Friday, the CTBA acknowledged the tournament officials’ mistake of allowing New Taipei City to remain in the competition, saying that those responsible would be reprimanded.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS