China News Service, Kunshan, October 23 (Reporter Liu Dawei and Wang Jun) The 2021 Cross-Strait National Baseball and Softball League (Kunshan Station) and the 11th "Kunshan Mazu Cup" Cross-Strait Slow Softball Invitational Tournament opened on the 23rd in Kunshan, Jiangsu.

The competition lasted for 5 days, a total of 26 teams, more than 570 players and referees participated, including 238 Taiwanese players.

  The league kicked off with the Taiwanese characteristics of the electronic three princes performance.

Sun Decong, chairman of the Jiangsu Taiwanese Slow Base Alliance, executive vice chairman of Kunshan Mazu Cultural Exchange Association, and Xu Yong, executive director of the Cross-Strait Baseball Exchange and Cooperation Committee (referred to as the "Hai Baseball Committee"), kicked off the game.

  Sun Decong said in an interview after the opening ceremony that in Taiwan, baseball and softball is almost a "national sport."

Kunshan is one of the cities where Taiwanese businessmen gather on the mainland. Taiwanese businessmen here not only use baseball and softball as a leisure and entertainment, but also teach local young people and children to play, and promote sports exchanges between people on both sides of the strait.

Due to the control of the epidemic, the Taiwanese team could not come to participate in the competition, which is a bit regretful.

  The Cross-Strait National Baseball and Softball League was first launched by the China Sea Baseball Committee in May of this year. It features slow softball, softball and women's baseball.

Prior to this, the league had hosted matches at the Ordos station.

  Xu Yong told reporters that baseball and softball has a good public foundation in Kunshan.

It is hoped that this league will complement another baseball and softball league hosted by the China Sea Baseball Committee-the "Cross-Strait Student Baseball League", covering more cities and people on both sides of the strait, and creating a popular and distinctive event on both sides of the strait that promotes cross-strait sports exchanges.

  In addition, this year is the first cooperation between the Cross-Strait National Baseball and Softball League and the "Kunshan Mazu Cup" Cross-Strait Slow Softball Invitational Tournament, integrating modern sports events with traditional Mazu culture and bringing a new experience to slow base sports enthusiasts on both sides of the strait.

  Qiu Shengen, vice chairman of the Kunshan Taiwan Association of Slow Baseball League, player and coach of the Kunshan Mazu Softball Team, was a participant in the first "Kunshan Mazu Cup" Cross-Strait Slow Softball Invitational Tournament.

In his view, with the gradual deepening of cross-strait baseball and softball exchanges, the level of baseball and softball in the mainland has improved significantly compared with previous years.

He said that when he competes with mainland players, he can feel that the competition is fierce, and he hopes that more baseball and softball teams from both sides of the strait can participate in the competition and exchange progress together.

  In recent years, some retired professional baseball athletes from Taiwan have come to work in the mainland and serve as coaches in universities, middle schools or professional teams and clubs.

Cross-Strait intercollegiate baseball games have also gradually started.

Against this background, on December 4, 2016, some professionals from the education, sports, and press circles on both sides of the strait established a sea baseball committee in Beijing to specialize in cross-strait non-governmental competition exchanges, in order to better play the unique role of baseball and softball in cross-strait exchanges. .

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