TAIPEI: The government will work to revive the sport of baseball in Taiwan from the grassroots level, the island's sports affairs chief said yesterday.

"Efforts will be made first to promote baseball and consolidate its existence and development from the grassroots level," said Eric Liluan Chu, deputy chief of the Executive Yuan, after attending the first working meeting of a task force formed last week under instructions from Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou.

Noting that currently there are 795 little league, youth and junior baseball teams nationwide, Chu said the government will work to increase the number of teams.

"I hope the number will double in four years," he said.

Meanwhile, Sports Affairs Council chief Tai Hsia-ling also said after the meeting that the education authorities will be responsible for promoting the sport, while the Sports Affairs Council will be responsible for training talent or star players.

Besides government efforts, she said, corporate sponsorship will also be solicited to further accelerate the development of baseball in Taiwan, from the grassroots level.

Meanwhile, she said, the number of baseball coaches at elementary, junior and senior high schools will also be increased, while qualification and evaluation of such coaches will be an issue that will be of equal importance.

The baseball-revival task force was established last week after Ma called a first-ever national conference on baseball on December 1. The meeting was called to discuss ways of reviving and upgrading the sport that has been plagued by game-fixing scandals.

The conference was convened after some 800 baseball fans took to the streets of Taipei on November 29 demanding that the government do something to rescue the sport in Taiwan.

The first working meeting of the task force held yesterday also brought together officials from the education authorities, the internal affairs authorities, the Taipei-based Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) and the Chinese Taipei Amateur Baseball Association.

The second and third working meetings will be convened shortly for discussions on the development of amateur baseball and professional baseball, the Executive Yuan said.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 12/08/2009 page2)