In celebration of Children's Day today, members of the Cabinet played a friendly match of baseball against the Taipei Dong Yuan Elementary School little league team. Prior to the game, Premier Jiang Yi-huah donated baseball training funds and Children's Day gifts to the school, and the two teams exchanged autographed souvenir baseballs.
Each year, the Executive Yuan marks Children's Day through meaningful interaction with youth such as visiting orphanages around the country. This year, following Chinese Taipei's dazzling performance at the World Baseball Classic, the Cabinet has chosen to play against Dong Yuan to encourage greater sports participation by Taiwan's youth.
With a 40-year age gap between the two sides, Premier Jiang said the senior squad already expended half their energy just on warm-up exercises alone. Nevertheless, they industriously followed the coach's directions and put up a noble battle. Jiang also urged businesses to support or sponsor local teams.
In today's match, Dong Yuan handily defeated the Cabinet by a score of 12 to 5. The premier said the younger players demonstrated exceptional ability for fourth and fifth graders and gave the elders a good run. Even with the loss, Jiang said baseball is a team sport and believes the Cabinet players will improve in the future.
The Cabinet's lineup today included Interior Minister Lee Hong-yuan, Education Minister Chiang Wei-ling and Ministry of Education Sports Administration Director-General Ho Jow-fei.