ASIAN GAMES/Taiwan falls to Japan 7-3, to play China for Asian Games baseball bronze

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) Taiwan lost 7-3 to host Japan in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games baseball super round Saturday, missing out on a place in the gold medal game and setting up a bronze medal matchup with China on Sunday.

Taiwan finished the super round with one win and two losses. It beat China 9-1 on Friday but carried over a 5-0 preliminary-round loss to South Korea into the four-team stage.

Under tournament rules, teams carry forward their result against the other qualifier from their preliminary-round group. They then play the two qualifiers from the opposite group, with the top two teams in the standings advancing to the gold medal game.

Taiwan entered Saturday needing to beat Japan to keep alive its chances of reaching the final.

With South Korea defeating China, Taiwan would have needed to beat Japan by at least five runs to prevail in a three-way tiebreaker.

South Korea beat China 9-2 in Saturday's other super round game and will face Japan in the gold medal game.

Taiwan will instead play China for bronze at noon Sunday, local time.