DAY 3 BASEBALL 5 YOUTH ASIA CUP
Chinese Taipei, ended their first round with an unbeaten record and qualified for the Super round tops in the inaugural Baseball 5 Youth (U18) Asia Cup at the Berjaya Times Square Manhattan Ballroom in Kuala Lumpur today.
Chinese Taipei after defeating China 2-0 (1-6;11-0; 7-5) in the morning, went on defeat bottom placed India 2-0 (11-0;15-0) in the last match of the first round in the evening.
The day started with Korea who had 3 losses and only 1 win after the first two days of the opening rounds, keeping their hopes alive to finish as the fourth team with a win over Hong Kong 2-0 (15-0; 13-0).
And Korea finished fourth when they defeated Singapore 2-0 (7-2;10-5) in the afternoon, who had to be satisfied to end opening rounds 5th.
Malaysia stayed on course to attempt to finish second going to the Super Round when they defeated Singapore 2-0 (11-2; 17-1) earlier in the morning, before the crucial tie against China.
But the highlight of the day was definitely the clash between Chinese Taipei and China, battling to remain unbeaten and finish tops after the the opening rounds.
China who saw their unbeaten bubble burst, when they lost against the tournament favourites Chinese Taipei in three games 1-2 (1-6;11-0; 7-5), after five outings.
But Chinese Taipei had to dig deep into their reserve to bring out their best to stop China.
China shocked Chinese Taipei with a first set victory of 6-1 but Chinese Taipei came back strongly in the second with a 6-0 lead in first inning, before winning 11-0 to force a decider.
In the decider, China again took the lead, to put the pressure on Chinese Taipei with a 1-0 lead before Chinese Taipei came back to lead 3-1 before China reduced the lead to 3-2 at the end of the second inning.
But China was back in the driver’s seat and mount the pressure on Chinese Taipei going to the final inning when they led again 4-3.
However, Chinese Taipei rose to the occasion when they raced to lead to a 7-3 lead before China could only muster a run in the bottom of the inning to concede defeat.
This left China to battle for the second spot against Malaysia.
And in the crucial match in the afternoon, it started off with a close battle for the first game, which was decided in the final fifth inning, after both teams were tied 1-1. China turned on their power in the fifth inning, to outrun Malaysia with a 8-1 lead to end the game.
And in the second game, Malaysia again started on the right footing with one run lead from first inning, but saw China pull level in the 3rd inning, and Malaysia went to lose their footing in the fourth inning as China raced to a 6-1 lead. While Malaysia tried to pull level, they only managed three runs to see their game ended with a 4-6 loss.
With that, China finished second, while Malaysia had to settle for third spot.
Malaysia will meet China in the Super round match tomorrow to fight for a berth in the final.
Malaysia’s coach Winson Low Wui Yong said all is not lost.
“We play China again tomorrow and it will be different. It is a battle for the final and after today’s match against them, we will be better tomorrow,” said a confident Winson.
“We could have done better today, but our key player, Sin Zhi Cheng, was trying too hard and lost focus, which affected our overall performance. Also Iman Ikili was injured early in the game and had to be replaced. I also replaced Sin later for him to analysis the game and his performance from outside.
“Both will be back in the starting lineup tomorrow and with a new strategy, we expect to do better.”
However, Winson said that China too had substituted players during the game to field the reserves, and expects them to be even stronger with their best on the field of play.
India had the dubious honour of finishing wooden spoonist when they had gone down to Hong Kong 0-2 (0-13;0-1-11) and Chinese Taipei 0-2 (0-11;0-15).
Hong Kong on the other hand, with their only win over India in the tournament finished fifth after the opening rounds.
Singapore, Hong Kong and India will be involved in the placement round played over one game only, while the Super Round will involve the top for teams for places in the final and third placing matched (medal round).
RESULTS (3rd AND FINAL DAY OF OPENING ROUND)
Korea 2 Hong Kong 0 (15-0; 13-0)
Malaysia 2 Singapore 0 (11-2;17-1)
Chinese Taipei 2 China 1 (1-6;11-0;7-4)
Hong Kong 2 India 0 (13-0; 11-1)
Singapore 0 Korea 2 (2-7; 5-10)
China 2 Malaysia 0 (8-1; 6-4)
India 0 Chinese Taipei 2 (0-11;0-15)
STANDINGS:
- Chinese Taipei (6-0)
- China (5-1)
- Malaysia (4-2)
- Korea (3-3)
- Singapore (2-4)
- Hong Kong (1-5)
- India (0-6)
Tomorrow’s fixtures (FINAL DAY):
8.00am: India (QR 7) v Hong Kong (QR 6) – Placement round
8.30m: Korea (QR 4) v Chinese Taipei (QR 1) – Placement round
9.45am: India (QR 7) v Singapore (QR 5) – Placement round
10.5am:Malaysia (QR 3) v China (QR 2) – Placement round
11.00am: Hong Kong (QR 6) v Singapore (QR 5) – Placement round
12.00 noon: (SR 4) (SR 3) – Medal round (3rd placing)
1.30pm (SR 2) SR 1) – Final