Celebrating with the Taiwan team who clinched the Under-12 Baseball World Cup title on Sunday, independent Tainan City Councilor Ingay Tali asked when a team would be able to openly call themselves “Taiwan” at an international sporting event.
Taiwan won their second U-12 Baseball World Cup title with a 4-0 shutout against Japan.
The long-awaited title gave Taiwan, competing under the name “Chinese Taipei,” their first trophy in eight years, since climbing to the top in the biennial competition’s inaugural edition in 2011.
Photo taken from Ingay Tali’s Facebook page
Watched by a 7,000-plus crowd at Tainan’s Asia-Pacific International Baseball Stadium, the victory was largely thanks to their starting pitcher, Chen Kai-sheng (陳楷升), who pitched five scoreless innings and hit a solo home run at the top of the sixth inning.
The U-12 Baseball World Cup is for players aged 12 or younger, and is sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The competition hosts the world’s elite players and offers the highest level of competition.
Noting that Japan’s players shed tears over the defeat, Ingay Tali offered them consolation when he wrote on Facebook: “All that you [Japan] failed to clinch was first place. While we [Taiwan] snatched the title, we still do not have our own name.”
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
“When can [we] openly shout out ‘Taiwan’ [at an international tournament]?” the Amis city councilor added, expressing the hope that Taiwan would soon rectify its name at global sporting events.
Of the 10 referendums held on Nov. 24 last year, a group of civic organizations initiated a name rectification campaign, with a referendum question that asked: “Do you agree Taiwan should use the name ‘Taiwan’ to participate in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and all other international sporting events?”
However, the referendum was not passed, as about 55 percent of voters (5.77 million) opposed the name change and 45 percent (4.76 million) supported it.
Among the crowd at the Tainan stadium was former premier William Lai (賴清德).
Prior to Sunday’s game, many had speculated whether Lai — a self-proclaimed “life-long baseball fan” — might join the spectators as the stadium was a project planned and completed when he was Tainan mayor.
“Hoping all players and coaches from all over the world had a great summertime memory and warm exchanges during the games in Tainan,” Lai wrote on Facebook on Sunday, with the hashtags #Cheer for Taiwan and #Taiwan’s national sport.
Additional reporting by CNA
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