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Posted at 7:15 p.m., Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Baseball: Jr. Championships canceled over Taiwan visas

By Annie Huang
Assoicated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The International Baseball Federation has canceled the World Junior Baseball Championships because host-country Venezuela refused to issue visas to Taiwanese players for political reasons, a Taiwanese sports official said Thursday.

John Ostermeyer, president of the federation, notified member countries that Venezuela was stripped of the right to host the tournament that was to open in its capital Caracas on Friday, said Lin Tzung-cheng, secretary general of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association.

Citing a letter dated today, Lin said the Luzon, Switzerland-based federation accused Venezuela of violating the spirit of fair competition championed by the Olympics.

Lin refused an Associated Press request to see the letter.

The federation was not immediately available for comment.

Venezuela has failed to grant Taiwanese players visas without giving a reason despite Taiwan's repeated protests.

On Thursday, a Venezuelan official said the Taiwanese failed to request visas on time.

"We fulfilled our responsibility as organizers of the tournament," said Edwin Zerpa, president of the Venezuelan Baseball Association. "Unfortunately, their request was not made with sufficient time."

Taiwan is banned from many international activities because of boycotts by China, which says the self-ruled island is a part of its territory and must not be given the trappings of a sovereign nation.

The sides split amid civil war in 1949.

But it is rare for Taiwan to be barred from major sports events, where it participates as Chinese Taipei, instead of its official name of the Republic of China.

"We are grateful to the Baseball Federation for taking the quick action that brings justice to us," Lin said.

"If the Venezuela act were to be condoned, any host country of a sports event could bar the participation of countries it doesn't favor," he added.

The IBAF plans to make a formal decision on sanctions to be imposed on Venezuela during a meeting of the steering committee scheduled for next week, Lin said.

He said most other teams, including the United States and Canada, had yet to arrive in Caracas for the tournament.

Venezuela is not one of the 24 nations that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Its ties with China have warmed considerably under President Hugo Chavez, fueled by a series of deals involving Venezuelan energy exports.