Taiwan vows major overhaul after WBC defeats
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwanese baseball officials have vowed to carry out a complete overhaul to the island's most popular sport in the wake of defeats to regional rivals South Korea and China at the World Baseball Classic tournament.
Faced with newspaper headlines such as "What a Laugh" and "China Sends Taiwan Home," and calls from legislators for rapid reform, the island's sporting authority said it would develop a new program to foster talent at schools, companies and military units.
The Sports Affairs Council's plan, due at the end of the month, would also fight local betting scams believed to encourage poor play and seen as damaging to the long-term development of baseball, a council official said on Monday.
Taiwan's official team lost 4-1 to China on Saturday, a day after a 9-0 shutout against South Korea, and their next chance to atone for those defeats will come at the 2009 World Cup qualifiers in Prague this September.
"Baseball is a strong symbol of Taiwan and it's unfortunate we have no formal training program," Taiwan legislator Tsai Chin-lung said. "We're backsliding. We urge the government to pay more attention to this."
China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's Communists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists (KMT) fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.
Taiwan's pride in baseball surged after the team won bronze at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, silver at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and gold at the 2006 Asia Games in Doha.
(Reporting by Ralph Jennings)
