The Final Olympics Qualifying Tournament (FOQT) ended on Friday with the closing ceremony after the conclusion of an interesting South Korea versus Taiwan game. The last day had not much drama because all decisions were made on Thursday.
Nevertheless they were all interesting. In the afternoon Mexico narrowly beat Spain, when Christian PRESICHI scored both runs for the Central Americans. Manuel OLIVERA’s third start of the tournament was also his best. But the offense struggled against the experienced Walter SILVA and the other pitchers of Mexico.
At the same time Australia had to fight to win a slugfest against South Africa, in which there young guns impressed with key contributions. The 17-year-old James LINGER got his first hits and scored twice. Brad TIPPET (20 years old) received the win with three one-hit-innings of relief.
Later in the afternoon Canada clinched first place in the FOQT with an extra-inning victory against Germany. It was another surprisingly good game for the European underdog, which only lost due to a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the tenth. It was a major improvement in comparison to the Baseball World Cup, where they had lost in double-digits.
And finally the Asian duel had a few thrilling moments. Taiwan smelled the upset, after scoring two runs in the first. But South Korea came right back and hold on to the small lead to celebrate their sixth win.
Overall it is a big day for Asian baseball. They will have four participants at the Olympics this summer. They never had even three in the field. Besides South Korea and Taiwan, Japan plus host China are qualified for Beijing. Canada, the USA, the Netherlands and Cuba are their opponents.
The Olympic Baseball Tournament starts on August 13th and lasts ten days. They’re supposed to play a single round robin with the four best teams advancing to the semi-finals. Cuba, Australia and Japan won the medals in Athens 2004.
Final Standings
Complete Results
Photo: © International Baseball Federation (www.ibaf.tv)
