Tokyo 2020: Taiwan withdraw from Olympic baseball qualifying tournament over Covid-19 fears
- Published
Taiwan's baseball team is fourth in the world rankings
Taiwan have withdrawn from the final baseball qualifying tournament for the Tokyo Olympics over Covid-19 concerns.
They had initially been due to host the qualifying tournament, but it was then moved to Puebla, Mexico, by the World Baseball Softball Confederation.
However, failure to secure a training base and concerns over player health with rising cases in Mexico meant they then withdrew as competitors.
"We apologise to all team staff," their baseball association said.
Taiwan, who compete as Chinese Taipei and are ranked fourth in the world, have won 22 medals at the Olympics, including a silver in baseball at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
Rising cases in Taiwan led to the initial decision to move the qualifying tournament.
Baseball will be making its first appearance at an Olympics since the Beijing Games in 2008, at which Taiwan finished fifth in the group stage and narrowly missed out on the medal rounds.