Chinese Taipei earns bronze as Japan forced to forfeit

The WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup Bronze Medal Game between Chinese Taipei and Japan was cancelled today, because Japan is not able to field the minimum players to play the game due to the activation of COVID-19 protocols for the Samurai Japan National Team. As a result, Chinese Taipei has been declared winner of the game and clinches their second consecutive WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup bronze medal.

According to the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup Health and Safety Plan, in the event that a team has a certain number of COVID-19 positives, defined for competition purposes as more than six out of the 20 players with a positive COVID-19 test, once the competition has started, the team's participation will be paused until the cases are confirmed and/or those affected recover. Positives on the Japanese National Team exceeded the established number.

Any games forfeited due to elimination and/or ineligibility of a team from competition following COVID-19 positives is settled with a 7-0 final score.

Japan was meant to play Chinese Taipei this morning at 11 a.m. at the Sonora Stadium in Hermosillo for the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup bronze medal.

The bronze is Chinese Taipei’s fourth in WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup history and their second in a row after beating Japan in the bronze medal game in Panama at the 2018 edition.

The medal is Chinese Taipei's 10th overall in this age category (1 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze), level with USA (6 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze) and two behind Cuba (6 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze) with Cuba and USA guaranteed to increase their medal tally following today's Final.