Taiwan baseball team qualifes for Olympics

The people of Taiwan were thrilled on Thursday after their baseball team qualified for the Beijing Olympics by beating South Africa 4-0.
The win took Taiwan's record to 5-1 in the week-long tournament, good enough for a spot at the August Games even if they lose their final encounter against South Korea on Friday.
South Korea are assured an Olympic berth despite going down 4-3 to Canada, who have also qualified. However, celebration had begun on Wednesday (March 12) after a key victory against Australia.
"I have been watching since the beginning of the games, and the game against Australia was my favorite. I watched with friends in a restaurant, and we all support the Chinese Taipei team. We must win against South Africa today and get into the Olympics, and that's why we're here,"
said a baseball fan, Chen Pei-wen.
"A few injured players were not able to participate the games, but as long as we're in the Olympic games, I am happy," added Chen Li-chuan, another fan.
Taiwan's view of the Olympics is otherwise chilled by politics.
Beijing has claimed self-ruled Taiwan as its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and pledged to bring the island under its rule by force if necessary.
China tried to use the Games to charm Taiwan last year by offering it a stop on the Olympic torch route but the island government declined. Taiwan have also beaten Germany, Italy and Mexico in this week's tournament. The team, officially dubbed Chinese Taipei for the Olympics, lost narrowly to Canada.

In June, the Swiss city of Geneva will be topping the travel itinerary of many European soccer fans as the Euro 2008 soccer tournament gets underway. Geneva and the cities of Bern, Basel and Zurich in Switzerland, along with Innsbruck, Salzburg, Klagenfurt and Vienna in Austria will be hosting the championship.
The two host countries and UEFA, European soccer's governing body, say they want to make this tournament as environmentally friendly as possible. That means measures are in place to save energy, manage waste and convince fans to use public transport to travel to Austria and Switzerland. In this way, they are following in the footsteps of the World Cup held in neighbouring Germany in 2006.
Martin Kallen, director of Euro 2008, told Reuters Television that they are not ready yet, but are confident that everything will be ready on time for the first match:
"There is still a lot to do, but up until now we have reached
every milestone and the situation looks good that we will be ready on 6 June
and on 7 June at 6 o'clock on the dot can blow the opening whistle of Euro
2008 and we will be in top form."

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[Gamecubesupreme]

I'm Taiwanese and I have a lot of Korean friends. None of them think Koreans are superior and I certainly don't think we are superior. Don't embarrass your country on the internet with ignorant comments like that.

[motyle23]

Sorryyy....to be nation it doesnt mean exist on the map like a independt country!!! Im polish, we fighted 123 yeard for ouer independence! (123 no exist on the map!!!) Distroyed by Russians, Germans...CHEATED BY AMERICANS AND GREAT BRITAIN!....no we are on the map, but it doesnt mean ever we stopped be nation!!!how u can say Taiwaneses are no native? they are!

[WingedCity01]

baseball was so unpopular generally that it's kicked out forever from 2012 olympics

[On1y1Ch1na]

watch out korea. HERE COMES CHINA. espn 2

[khg8037]

im korean i like taiwanese better

cuz they play baseball.

hate copy machine, china

[DeeDonner]

baseball is gay? a sport where the ball can kill you...yeah queer...

[codeagent47]

NOOO<< i thought i fled to mars!! lol,,

[forreal22]

haha, if you knew anything about the history between Taiwan and China you would understand that ROC is Chiang Kai-Shek's gov't, who fled from CHINA to Taiwan. noob.

[codeagent47]

bump ass that's why they call Taiwan Republic of CHINA!! lol

[forreal22]

haha sike, taiwan beats korea and japan regularly.

[forreal22]

haha, and you're an idiot! thats why we call you China!

[forreal22]

because china pressures taiwan to use that name? seriously, whats your IQ? dumbass.