Baseball is a sport that is cemented in Taiwanese culture and the country's baseball teams often receive international recognition for their performance. Ahead of their participation in an international baseball tournament, the Taiwan World Baseball Classic squad is making their final preparations.
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Taiwan's World Baseball Classic team is doing final preparations ahead of their first match against Panama in March. They are currently practicing in the Douliou Baseball Stadium in Yunlin County, which will also serve as the stadium for warm-up games leading up to the official tournament.
As one of the tournament hosts, Taiwan automatically qualified as one of the participating teams. Taiwan, which will compete under the name "Chinese Taipei," also qualified because they participated in the 2017 tournament.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) made an appearance on Monday to share some encouraging words with the team. Chen says his grandsons are also big fans of the team and he hopes to see the baseball team perform well.
Taiwan is competing in Pool A with Cuba, Italy, the Netherlands and Panama. The top two teams in the pool will advance to the quarter-finals in Tokyo held on March 15 and 16. Training is in full swing as Taiwan fights for a spot in the championship match that will be held later in the United States.