Construction on an 8,000-capacity youth baseball stadium and 1,000-seater support ballpark for next summer’s World Baseball Softball Confederation U-12 Baseball World Cup was launched March 17 in southern Taiwan’s Tainan City.
Spanning 4.9 hectares, the venues are the inaugural projects under the NT$2.2 billion (US$75.45 million) Tainan Asia-Pacific International Baseball Stadiums and Training Centers. The initiative is also expected to include a 25,000-capacity indoor arena and support ballpark for elite professional competitions, two infield practice sites, a Taiwan baseball museum and hall of fame, public batting cages and a bat manufacturing showcase facility.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Premier Lai Ching-te said the sport is an integral part of Tainan’s culture as evidenced by the array of stars from the metropolis including former Major League Baseball pitchers Wang Chien-ming and Kuo Hong-chih. The 30-hectare stadiums and training centers project will capitalize on this passion by turning the city into a global baseball center, he added.
According to Lai, public infrastructure works are underway to ensure convenient transportation links to the new sites. This large-scale development program will help bolster local tourism industry development by drawing sports-loving visitors from around the world, he said.
Tainan Acting Mayor Li Men-yen said upon completion of the youth stadiums in June 2019, the city government will turn its attention to the professional arenas. The state-of-the-art venues as well as accompanying training facilities will help transform the city into a major winter training destination for leading professional teams from across the region, including those in Japan and South Korea, he added.
Launched in 2011, the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup is the highest level competition in its age category. The tournament is staged biennially in Taiwan, with the 2019 edition set to commence in July. (CPY-E)
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