Premier12 champions Chinese Taipei return home as heroes
One day after Chinese Taipei completed an unexpected run to clinch the title of the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS on Sunday, the team were given a heroes welcome on their return to Taiwan.
The No. 2 team in the world were greeted on their arrival at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport by fighter jets firing flares as an official salute before their plane was showered with a water salute as it approached its gate.
What awaited Chinese Taipei at the airport were thousands of fans wanting to show their support to the team with all of them singing and chanting in unison at the arrival terminal hours before the plane landed. Once Premier12 MVP Chieh-Hsien Chen showed up at the arrival terminal, the scream from the crowd went through the roof.
“Thanks to my teammates, coaching staff and supporting group, we achieved the best result to make you proud of Taiwan baseball. I believe there will be more fans supporting our baseball,” said Chen at the airport.
Chinese Taipei manager Hao-Jiu Tseng also expressed his appreciation to everyone who supported and contributed to the success. “This the glory of Taiwan, and I hope that it will get better in the future.”
One day after returning home, a victory parade was held for Chinese Taipei to celebrate the historical achievement in downtown Taipei. The entire team, including players, coaches, scouting teams, supporting teams and cheering squad passed through Taipei City on jeeps and trucks for a hour-long parade.
An estimated more than 50,000 fans participated in the parade on the Tuesday afternoon to show their support to the team and to sing the song “Taiwan Bravo”, which was also sung a lot during the WBSC Premier12 tournament in both the Taipei Dome and the Tokyo Dome.
Chinese Taipei players and coaching staff are planned to meet with the fans of their native cities and home cities of their parent clubs while local authorities also announced a variety of bonuses for players and team members.
Chinese Taipei Baseball Association President Jefferey Koo Jr. had previously announced that he will provide a bonus of NTD 70 million ($215,000) to the team, while every player is subject to receive NTD 7 million ($21,500) from the government for winning the title of Global Champions.