Taipei - Taiwan on Thursday named a new manager for its national baseball team, in the hope that he can lead them to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Chinese-Taipei Baseball Association appointed Hung Yi-chung, manager for the La New Bear, to replace Kuo Tai-yuan who resigned as national team manager last week after two recent losses in international baseball games.
"I must admit that Taiwan lags behind Japan and South Korea, but I am still optimistic about our chance of winning a wild card for the Beijing Olympics," Hung said at the baseball association meeting.
"Although this is a tough job, I will try my best. For the training, I am ready to take the Taiwan team to Cuba or Puerto Rico or anywhere in the world," he said.
Taiwan, one of the three baseball countries in Asia along with Japan and South Korea, performed poorly in its las two international outings, losing the first chance to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
In the 37th Baseball World Cup, held in Taipei in November, Taiwan ranked 8th among the 16 teams.
In the Asian Olympics Baseball Qualifiers early this month, Taiwan finished third of the three teams participating. Japan beat South Korea and Taiwan to represent Asia in Beijing.
However, Taiwan still has one more chance. In March 2008, it will host the Special Qualifiers for eight teams to vie for three wild cards for the Beijing Olympics. Participants are the No 2 or No 3 teams from Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Oceania.
The eight teams are Taiwan, South Korea, South Africa, United Kingdom, Spain, the United States, Mexico and Australia.
The Beijing Olympic Games will have eight teams competing - one from host China, Asia, Europe and two from the Americas, as well as three wild card entries.
The Beijing Games carry special significance for baseball players and fans because the International Olympic Committee is dropping the sport from future games.
Baseball is popular in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the US and many parts of Latin America. Australia and Canada both have players in the Major League Baseball.
China, to assert its place as a sports giant in the world, has begun to train baseball players in recent years, using Taiwanese baseball coaches.
Thailand began to take baseball seriously in 1992 and has hired three Japanese coaches to train its baseball players.
