President Ma Ying-jeou on the evening of July 8 attended the opening ceremonies of the 1st International Baseball Federation (IBAF) 12U Baseball World Championship that is being held at Taipei Municipal Tien-Mou Stadium. The president urged on all the teams and expressed his hopes that they will all put in stellar performances.
First, the president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, welcomed the 13 teams from Asia, the Americas, and Europe to Taiwan for the tournament. He stressed that baseball is our national pastime, and has roughly six million fans here. Pointing to the example of little league baseball, the president said that Taiwan has 800 formal teams, over 200 informal teams, and over 1,000 baseball organizations, so the government will continue to promote the sport, and the Executive Yuan's Sports Affairs Council will provide the necessary funding to support the effort.
Then, at the invitation of IBAF President Riccardo Fraccari, the president officially announced the start of the tournament and wished everyone taking part success.
The championship will be held from July 8 to July 17, and games will be played at the Taipei Municipal Tien-Mou Stadium, as well as the baseball fields at Youth Park and Xinsheng Park. A total of 13 teams from Cuba, Venezuela, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Mexico, Indonesia, Italy, Brazil, the Philippines, Ecuador, and Taiwan are vying for the championship trophy.