(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
       Japan wins Gold at Asian Games
Nederlands
 JAKARTA (Indonesia) -
Japan shutout Chinese Taipei 7-0 on Friday, August 24 in the Final of the softball-tournament of the Asian Games, which are currently underway in Indonesian capital Jakarta.
The win comes twelve days after Japan lost the thrillling Final of the Women's World Softball Championship in Chiba (Japan) on August 12.
On that day, Japan lost 7-6 in ten innings against the USA.
In the Asian Games-final, veteran pitcher Yukiko Ueno gave up only one basehit to the Taipei-squad.
In the World Championship-final, Ueno also went the distance, but ended up short.
Japan struck early against Chinese Taipei, scoring three runs in the first inning and adding four more in the second at bat.
With the win, Japan remained unbeaten in the tournament, winning all eight games it played.
The same team that participated in the World Championship traveled to Indonesia for the Asian Games.
It marked the fifth consecutive time that Japan won the Asian Games softball-tournament.
The 18th edition of the Asian Games is held in two Indonesian cities, capital Jakarta and Palembang.
On August 18, the Asian Games were officially opened by Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
It marks the second time that Indonesia hosts the event.
The first time was in 1962 when Jakarta also was the playing site.
The first Asian Games was organized in 1951 in New Delhi (India).
Since 1958, the event is organized every four years.
At the Asian Games in Indonesia, there are 465 events in 40 different sports.
There also also two demonstration sports, being canoe polo and eSports (which stands for electronic sports or video gaming).
45 different countries are participating in the Asian Games.
Amongst the sports are softball and baseball.
Softball is part of the Asian Games since 1990, baseball since 1994.
At the softball-field of the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex in Jakarta, Japan opened the softball-tournament on August 19 with a 7-0 shutout against host Indonesia.
On the following days, Japan also won against Chinese Taipei (3-1), Hong Kong (14-0), the Phlippines (11-1), South Korea (10-0) and China (14-1).
After completion of the preliminary round, Japan met China in the semi-final.
Japan won 5-0 to become the first finalist.
In the second semi-final, Chinese Taipei won 6-3 against the Philippines, then nipped China 5-4 in the bronze medal game (backdoor) to become the second finalist.
Final Standings
1. Japan, 2. Chinese Taipei, 3. China, 4. the Philippines, 5. South Korea, 6. Indonesia, 7. Hong Kong.
(August 24)
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