• Submitted by: admin
• Sports
• 11 / 19 / 2006

South Korea beat the Philippines 5-1 on the final day of the 16th Intercontinental Cup baseball games in Taiwan on Sunday, winning the seventh place in the eight-team tournament.

In the other three games set for later Sunday, Cuba and the Netherlands will fight for the crown, Taiwan and Japan for the third place and Italy and Australia for fifth place.

Cuba, a nine-time winner in Intercontinental Cup games, including the last cup in 2002, will meet the first Dutch team to ever make it to the finals since the tournament began in 1973.

The tournament is being held at two stadiums in Taichung City, central Taiwan, with the opening and closing ceremonies held at the newly-build 15,000-seat Intercontinental Stadium.

The International Baseball Federation has introduced reforms this time around to cut short the length of a game, to improve baseball's chance of becoming an Olympic sport again in 2016 after it has been dropped for 2012.

The timing between pitches has been reduced from 15 to 12 seconds; pitchers have four instead of eight pitches; and an intentional pass only requires on pitch instead of four.

Source: DPA