Chinese Taipei defeated Cuba 2-1 on Wednesday, placing fifth in the play-offs at the 22nd Under 21 World Baseball Championships in the Jose Antonio Huelga Stadium in the Cuban city of Sancti Spiritus, 355 kms east of Havana.

Cuba's batters connected eight times, three times more than their rivals, but could not make an impact faced with the 90-mile-an-hour throw of Chinese Taipei's Cheng Kai-Wen, who was in perfect form for 12 innings.

Chinese Taipei led the game 1-0 until the eighth inning, when Caribbean newcomer Rangel Rodriguez hit a double, and after reaching third base ran on to score by accident.

Cuba's team, in their last Championship game, proved unlucky, but its pitchers had a good performance: most of all opening pitcher Frank del Valle, who let through only one run in eight innings.

Cuba had won five games in a row in the group phase of the contest, but lost to the United States in the knockout phase of the competition, and so was excluded from the medals competition.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2006)