World No. 4 Chinese Taipei appoints team manager for WBSC Premier12 of Baseball
<p>Taipei City – World No. 4 and co-host Chinese Taipei named Taiwanese baseball legend Kuo Tai-yuan as their team manager for the inaugural WBSC Premier12 of Baseball being staged in Japan and Taiwan from 8-21 November.</p>
<p>The announcement was made jointly by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) and Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) at a press conference, together with WBSC. The two organisations, both WBSC Members, said they were proud to be entering into a historic collaboration and shared vision on the newest international baseball flagship, Premier12.</p>
<p>“The Chinese Taipei National Baseball Team for Premier12 will be the best ever,” Chinese Taipei leaders said. “We are confident that Chinese Taipei will make it to the semi-finals and finals of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Premier12?src=hash">Premier12</a>.”</p>
<p>Taiwan’s Sports Ministry, present at the press conference, said, “We’ll have the strongest Chinese Taipei team with this cooperation between CTBA and CPBL.”</p>
<p>During his playing career, Kuo, 53, won over 100 games for the Seibu Lions in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).</p>
<p>In his new role, Kuo said he aims to guide the team to the Tokyo Dome, where the semi-finals and global grand finale will be staged.</p>
<p>Chinese Taipei will open the WBSC Premier12 on 9 November against No. 5 Netherlands at Taichung Intercontinental Stadium.</p>
<p>The full tournament schedule, bracket and full list of venues for the WBSC Premier12, scheduled for 8-21 November in Japan and Taiwan, were revealed last week in Taipei City by the world governing body.</p>
<p>The biggest international baseball tournament on the calendar, the Top 12 countries from the WBSC Baseball World Rankings will unite for the first time ever at Premier12, in a global battle that will challenge each nation to prove and defend its world rankings, with a $USD multi-million purse and large-scale bonus of ranking points at stake.</p>
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