Sawt Falasteen - 'Taiwan also has baseball': jubilant fans celebrate historic win

F-16 fighter jets firing flares escorted the men's team back to Taiwan on Monday, a day after they beat Japan 4-0 in the final of the WBSC Premier12 in Tokyo and sparked jubilation across the island of 23 million people.

Baseball is wildly popular in Taiwan and winning the WBSC Premier12 for the first time has been a focus of newspaper front pages, social media chat groups and office conversations.

After receiving a rapturous welcome at Taipei's international airport on Monday night, the players turned out Tuesday for a street parade in front of thousands of adoring fans waving Taiwanese flags and "Team Taiwan" signs.

Employees of a bank climbed out of their first-floor office windows to watch the players go past.

"I couldn't sleep for two nights, that shows how excited I am," Victor Chai, 30, told AFP as he stood in the crowd.

"I've been watching games for 20 years, and I never thought I'd see the day when Taiwan's team would win an international championship."

After playing under the name Chinese Taipei, the team wore black hooded sweaters emblazoned with Taiwan as they stood in the back of military jeeps and trucks.

The parade ended at the Presidential Office Building where the team was greeted by President Lai Ching-te and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim -- wearing the same sweaters as the players.

"Thank you for showing Taiwan to the world," Lai told the players.

"Taiwan is not just about semiconductors; Taiwan also has baseball."

Taiwan and China have been ruled separately since 1949, but Beijing claims the island as part of its territory and has sought to erase it from the international stage.

Taiwan competes under the name Chinese Taipei in international sports events due to pressure from China, which baulks at any attempt to give the island legitimacy.

Lai has been an outspoken defender of Taiwan's sovereignty, angering Beijing, which calls him a "separatist".

D.Khalil--SF-PST