Baseball teams from South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, the Philippines and Taiwan--competing under the name of Chinese Taipei--participated in a round-robin format in which the team with the best record would win the title. Taiwan started its campaign Dec. 1 by beating South Korea, another Asian rival and three-time Asian Games gold medal winner, 4:2.
With Chinese Taipei beating Thailand, China and the Philippines in its following matches, and with South Korea losing to Japan, the final round-robin match between Taiwan and Japan was thus equivalent to a championship showdown, as each team had a 4-0 record.
Taiwan, Japan and South Korea are considered the three major baseball powers in Asia. Chinese Taipei's team comprised players from the island's Chinese Professional Baseball League, as well as some currently active in Japan or the United States, although not N.Y. Yankees' star pitcher Wang Chien-ming. The Korean team consisted of the best players from the peninsular nation's professional league, while the Japanese team was formed of players from amateur teams.
Right-handed Chiang Chien-ming, who plays for Japan's Yumiuri Giants of the Central League, started for Chinese Taipei, but was relieved by Keng Po-hsuan, a Toronto Blue Jays minor leaguer, after giving up three runs in just 1 and 1/3 innings. By contrast, Japanese starting pitcher Isomura Hideto also gave up three runs, but over 6 and 1/3 innings. This left Taiwan trailing Japan 5:3. Nevertheless, after a total of four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on five singles, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly, the underdogs were up 6:5.
Japan went ahead again at top of the eighth inning with Yoshiura Takashi's two-run homer off Taiwanese reliever Tseng Sung-wei, to post a 7:6 advantage. Finally, at the bottom of the ninth, with two runners on the second and third bases and one out, Lin Chih-sheng, the CPBL La New Bears shortstop who was hitless from his previous four at-bats, made a walk-off single off Japan's reliever Takasaki Kentaro, thus batting in his two teammates and winning the match. The Chinese-language United Daily News estimated that more than 3 million people in Taiwan--around one-eighth of the total population--watched the game.
Other Taiwanese athletes won gold medals in taekwondo, pool, karate, tennis and soft tennis. Silver and bronze medals were won in the same events, and in track and field, shooting, table tennis, judo, weight-lifting, golf, cycling, archery, women's basketball and equestrianism.