A three-run homer from Chieh-Hsien Chen launched Chinese Taipei to their first WBSC Premier12 title with a stunning 4-0 win over hosts Japan in the final of the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS at a sold out Tokyo Dome on Sunday.
A total of 41,827fans, including more than 6,000 from Taiwan, packed into the Tokyo Dome to witnessworld No. 2 Chinese Taipei beat world No. 1 and defending champions Japan in breathtakingstyle.
The finalwas international baseball at its best, with a brilliant contest between thetwo Asian powerhouses, riding on the support of their cheering squads before ChineseTaipei captain Chen opened the score with a three-run homer in the top of thefifth to earn MVP honours.
Japan, who hadheld every title in international baseball except for the WBSC U-12 BaseballWorld Cup, started the final as hot favourites having not lost in 27 games whilstcoming off two victories over Chinese Taipei already in the tournament includingin Saturday’s final Super Round game in an unbeaten run which dated back to theAsian Games in 2022.
Chieh-Hsien Chen is the WBSC Premier12 2024 MVP
Chinese Taipei, who had suffered three defeats during their Premier122024 campaign, claimed their first trophy since lifting the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup and WBSCU-12 Baseball World Cup (when they beat Japan) in 2019.
It was Chinese Taipei’s 16th win against Japan in 39 encountersand the first since the Asian Games 2019.
Chinese Taipei joins Korea (2015) and Japan (2019) as previous winners of the WBSC Premier12. Japan is the only team that has medalled in all three editions, adding this silver to the 2015 bronze and the 2019 title.
WBSC
President Riccardo Fraccari congratulated all the teams who participated in thethird edition of the WBSC Premier12 and thanked for the fans for their infectioussupport.
“Thank youto everyone who has come out and supported their national teams over the pastthree weeks during the WBSC Premier12,” President Fraccari said. “FromGuadalajara and Tepic, to Taipei City, Nagoya and Tokyo, the WBSC Premier122024 has been a tremendous success.
“Congratulations to the winners Chinese Taipei and to all the teams and hosts for putting on a great show. We look forward to the next edition of this amazing tournament in 2027, which starts with qualifiers in 2026.”
Earlier in the day, world No. No. 5 USA defeated No. 4 Venezuela, 6-1, to earn the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS bronze medal.
It was USA's first Premier12 bronze medal, having won silver in 2015 and finished fourth in 2019. Japan and Mexico are the other previous Premier12 bronze medallists. Fourth place is Venezuela's best result ever having finished seventh in 2019 and ninth in 2015.
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