China aiming to be proud hosts of WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2027

Despite having lost their first five games, China are hoping their experience at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2025 presented by RAXUS in Okinawa, Japan will help them be ready to be hosts of the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in two year’s time.

China lost to Chinese Taipei in their opening game, Germany on Day Two, against Australia in their third game, USA on Day Four and Panama in their final Opening Round game on Tuesday.

The world No. 19 finished the Opening Round in sixth place in Group B and will play in the Placement Round with Cuba, South Africa and Italy from Group A (plus two other teams from Group B still to be confirmed) when it starts on Thursday.

"We came here aiming for a spot in the Super Round, " commented Hanchen Ou, a utility player on the 20-man roster. "What happened is that we couldn't even compete."

Ou, who is a student at Northcross High School in Virginia, USA, helped the WBSC as the interpreter for manager Guojun Lai.

"I am not happy," Lai said. "We didn't perform the way we could. Our pitching staff struggled. We still need to improve our hitting, but we did okay. Our pitchers need to throw more strikes and be more confident to keep us in the game."

Born in 1973, in his playing days Lai was a right-handed pitcher. He represented China at the 1998 and 2005 WBSC Baseball World Cups and played for the Guangdong Leopards in the China Baseball League. He was a player-coach for China at the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006.

"If I compare what I see now with my time as a player," commented Lai, "I notice that pitchers throw much harder these days. The whole international baseball environment is totally different. The level has improved a lot."

"The problem in China is that we have a lot of kids playing at the Elementary School level, and they love baseball," added Hanchen Ou. "When you get to Middle School, there are fewer possibilities, and we lose a lot of potential players. We need to fill that gap and give a chance to compete to kids who experienced baseball in Elementary school, when they grow older."

Ou moved from Middle School to the United States and hopes to continue his baseball career there.

"My goal is to play college baseball in America. I've loved the game since I was six years old. I had a coach in Elementary school who made me love the game and advised me to try the game in the United States."

Ou was born in 2007 and won't be eligible for the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2027. China has secured the hosting rights in Pingtan, and Lai is focused on building the best team possible for the event.

"As soon as this tournament ends, we will start scrimmages. The goal is to have an expanded roster soon. As I mentioned earlier, we need to improve our pitching but we will get there. China will compete in 2027."