CHINESE TAIPEI MAINTAIN THEIR BRONZE MEDAL AGAINST PHILIPPINES
As much as China and Philippines tried to change the previous 2019 championship final standings in the Women Softball Asia Cup 2023 at the Songdo LNG Sports Town Stadium, it remained the same with Japan and Chinese Taipei emerging victors.
Besides wanting to make amends to the 2019 results, both teams were also looking forward to reverse their round robin clash results earlier in the week. Japan had defeated China 4-0 in the round robin round, while Chinese Taipei had defeated Philippines 5-0.
In the final in the afternoon, Japan underlined their superiority with a 6-0 win, while in the bronze medal match earlier in the morning, Chinese Taipei disposed of Philippines 10-5.
All top four teams (Japan, China, Chinese Taipei and Philippines) in the competition after the completion of the round robin fixtures which ended on Friday, have qualified to the XVII WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Group Stage in July in Europe.
While Japan’s coach Reika Utsugi said at no time they were concerned over the challenge poised by China in the final, she however acknowledged that the Chinese team has grown in strength.
“We knew what we had to do to win this match and we played as planned and won the match,” said Utsugi.
“However, credit to China for a determined brave performance. They are a young team and have tremendous potential. They are indeed a team to look for in the near future.”
China’s coach Tang Changdong said he was happy with his team’s performance.
“They gave their best to their ability. What they lacked was the experience required in high level match like this. My players are young and they did well under the circumstances,” said Tang.
“We will definitely return back better team with more exposure.
“Maybe we will be better prepared at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. It is not just softball but all teams are in the process of a good preparation for the Asian Games so that we will be at our best in front of our home crowd ,” quipped Tang.
Tang said he was looking forward to the World Cup XVII WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Group Stage in July in Europe, where China as runner-up in the Asia Cup will play in Group B in Spain (as host), with other qualifiers – Cuba, Netherlands, Puerto Rico and South Africa.
The remaining 18 nations who qualified for the World Cup Group Stage and allocated in their respective groups are as follows:
- Group A: Ireland (host), Australia, Botswana, Great Britain, USA and Asia 3 (third qualified team – CHINESE TAPEI).
- Group C: Italy (host), Canada, New Zealand, Venezuela, Asia 1 (top qualified team – JAPAN) and a Wild Card for Asia (fourth placed team – PHILIPPINES ).
In the earlier bronze medal match, Chinese Taipei saw Philippines come on strongly, but they were unperturbed, to race back into the game to win 10-5.
The Philippines who were hoping fortunes would change for them to emerge bronze medalist and raise their standing for an early Easter celebration, started off in the right path with a 4 run lead as the visiting team, but Chinese Taipei raced to reduce the deficit to 3-4.
Philippines playing with much enthusiasm and gusto, went to stretch their lead with another run in the second inning, but then on Chinese Taipei went over drive, as Philippines started making errors.
Chinese Taipei, obviously disappointed of not making the final, were bent on making amends to at least win the bronze medal, as they went on to chalk runs in the third (3), fourth (1), fifth (2) and sixth (1) to emerge winners, when Philippines failed to score any more runs till the end of the seventh innings.
Philippines coach Venerando Dizer had mixed feelings on the result against Chinese Taipei.
“Overall I am happy with the performance of the team. We did well to start well and had Chinese Taipei at their bay,” said Dizer.
“But we started making mistakes and three valuable errors which saw them haven home runs cost us the game.
“We have players who pitch well and hit hard, but what we need is players to stand up and show character at crucial moments.
“Our consolation is that despite finishing fourth, we have qualified to the World Cup through the wild card ticket for Asia, which Softball Asia fought hard to attain.
“But we have a lot of work to be done before the World Cup first stage in July and work begins for us tomorrow.”
All top four teams (Japan, China, Chinese Taipei and Philippines) in the competition after the completion of the round robin fixtures which ended on Friday, have qualified to the XVII WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup Group Stage in July in Europe.
TODAY’S RESULTS (FINAL AND 3RD PLACING)
JAPAN 6 CHINA 0
CHINESE TAIPEI 10 PHILIPPINES 5