Starting next month, two major
international baseball events
will take place right here in
Taichung city! Continuing the
excitement of last year's
Taichung Intercontinental
Baseball Cup games, this
year's baseball events are sure
to create even more baseball
fever all over the island.

Baseball Fever
Get ready for the 37th Annual World Cup & the 2007 Asia Cup Championship Games!

Words and pictures by Taichung City Goverment
Translated by Ann Lee

The World Cup Championships 11/6-11/17
Held in stadiums in Taipei and Taichung, the World Cup Championships will open on November 6 and last until the 17th. The Chinese Taipei team will play their opening game in Taipei's Tianmu stadium; the other six games will be held at Taichung's Intercontinental Stadium.

This year will be the 37th year for the World Cup Championship games, which is the longest international baseball event in the sport's history. In the past 60 years, the championships have only been held in Asian countries three times: Japan in 1980, South Korea in 1982, and Taiwan in 2001. After the Chinese Taipei team won the bronze medal during the 2001 games, baseball gained even more popularity in Taiwan, and is still widely enjoyed by fans and participants all over the island.

The spokesperson for this year's World Cup games is Wang Chen-chu, a man who was once referred to as the "world's best home－run hitter" and "the leading player in championship games". After maintaining his nationality as a citizen of the Republic of China, Wang still shows great interest in Taiwanese baseball and was honored accept the invitation to be the spokesman for the championship games. He will proudly draw enthusiasm for the games, which will include teams from places all over the world, including: Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, United States, China, Cuba, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela, Holland, Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia, and South Africa.

2007 Asia Cup Championships 11/26-12/3: Teams compete for Olympic eligibility
After the World Cup games conclude, fans in Taichung have another chance to enjoy intense, live baseball games during the Asia Cup Championship. Held from November 26 to December 3 at the Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, the Asia Cup will determine which team will qualify for the 2008 Olympics--only the team that wins the championship can participate. This means that a lot of dedicated fans will be looking at Chinese Taipei, Japan, and Korea to see which team is going to Beijing and which ones are going home.

In 2003, Chinese Taipei beat the Korean team to go on to Athens for Olympic competition and you can bet that they want to go again. For this year's Asia Cup Championships, seven teams will compete for the honor. They are: Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Pakistan. B-grade teams include Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines and Pakistan. B-grade teams will compete first--from Nov. 26 to 28. The team that wins first place in the B-grade competition will be eligible to compete with A-grade teams such as Chinese Taipei, Japan, and Korea.

These two major baseball events, the World Cup & the Asia Cup Championships, will be some of the most competitive and fascinating games to watch in the history of baseball in Asia, so consider yourself lucky that they will be played right in your own backyard--at Taichung's Intercontinental Baseball Stadium!

World Cup Championships Schedule for Games in Taichung:
(Final schedule subject to change by Chinese Taipei Baseball Association)
Date/ Home Team VS. Guest Team
Nov. 8 （Thu） South Africa VS Chinese Taipei
Nov. 9 （Fri）Chinese Taipei VS Japan
Nov. 10 （Sat） Spain VS Chinese Taipei
Nov. 11 （Sun） Chinese Taipei VS Mexico
Nov. 13 （Tue） Panama VS Chinese Taipei
Nov. 14 （Thu） Chinese Taipei VS United States

Asia Cup Championship Schedule:
(Final schedule subject to change by Chinese Taipei Baseball Association)

Date/ Home Team VS. Guest Team
Dec. 1 （Sat）Chinese Taipei VS Korea
Dec.2（Sun）B-grade winner team VS Chinese Taipei
Dec. 3 （Mon）Chinese Taipei VS Japan

* visit www.ctba.org.tw/ for more information