Youth Olympics》5-a-side baseball Taiwan team wins silver! Write important records for our country

[Reporter Gong Naijie/Reporting from Taipei] At the 2026 Dhaka Youth Olympic Games in Senegal, Taiwan's five-a-side baseball team held a gold medal match early this morning (3rd). Facing the world's No. 1 Cuban team, they lost 1-2 and 1-7 in two sets and finally won the silver medal, writing an important record for my country in the Youth Olympic futsal baseball event.

This year's Youth Olympics Taiwan futsal baseball team is led by head coach Feng Weiguo and coach Xiao Shufei. The Taiwanese team performed brilliantly in the preliminaries, defeating the host Senegal, Turkey and Cuba, and advanced to the top four with first place in the group. Then they defeated Mexico in the semi-finals and successfully secured a ticket to the gold medal match.

Among them, the Taiwanese team faced the strong Cuban team in the preliminaries and created the most eye-catching record of this tournament. In the past, Cuba had never lost a game in the U18 five-a-side baseball competition. The Taiwan team defeated Cuba in straight games 5-3, 5-4, becoming the first team to defeat Cuba at this level. It also attracted special attention when the two sides met again in the gold medal game.

In the first set of the gold medal match, Cuba scored first in the first game, and the Taiwan team immediately tied the score in the second game. In the third game, Cuba broke through Taiwan's defense and scored another 1 point. After that, both sides failed to add points. Cuba won the first set 2-1.

Entering the second set, Cuba took advantage of the Taiwanese team's defensive situation in the first inning, combined with active base running, and scored 5 points in one fell swoop to take the lead. The Taiwan team continued to try to counterattack, but failed to effectively narrow the gap, and finally lost 1-7. Cuba won the gold medal in straight games, while the Taiwan team accepted the silver medal.

Although they failed to defeat Cuba again in the gold medal match, the Taiwanese team still showed a high degree of competitiveness in this tournament. Not only did they advance to first place in their group, they also set a historic record of defeating Cuba in the preliminaries, and finally stood on the podium, leaving an important page in this Youth Olympics journey.

According to the five-a-side baseball world rankings released by the World Baseball and Softball Council (WBSC), the Taiwan team currently ranks second in the world with 4,801 points, Cuba ranks first in the world with 5,827 points, and France ranks third with 4,663 points.

The members of Taiwan’s five-a-side baseball team at this Youth Olympic Games are: head coach Feng Weiguo, coach Xiao Shufei, players An Weijie, Zhang Wenting, Xu Ziyi, Xu Shaoting, Chen Yuen, Chen Wanzi, Liu Enhao and Pan Yufan.