Nagoya Asian Games Baseball Venue: Players Need to Adapt to Infield Black Soil

The 2026 Nagoya Asian Games will be held from September 19 to October 4. The baseball venues are Okazaki City Stadium and Toyohashi City Stadium, both of which are standard Japanese black soil ballparks. Okazaki City Stadium can accommodate approximately 10,000 spectators and was once a venue for Japanese professional baseball games. The infield is a standard black soil field, with artificial turf behind home plate and natural grass in the outfield.

Ye Chih-hsien stated in a media interview that many issues were raised in previous technical meetings, and the venues appear to have been improved well. 'I think the only thing the Chinese Taipei baseball team needs to adapt to is the black soil infield, which is slightly different from Taiwan's red clay,' he said.

Ye Chih-hsien explained that besides the biggest visual difference, black soil is softer and has finer particles, giving the impression of a faster ball bounce, unlike the granular feel of Taiwan's red clay fields.

Regarding other hardware facilities, Ye Chih-hsien highly praised them. 'Basically, there are not too many problems. Some older hardware facilities have also been updated. For example, the artificial turf behind home plate used to be uneven, causing players to slip easily, but now it has all been replaced with new turf.'

Regarding accommodation, Ye Chih-hsien revealed that the hotel arranged by the organizing committee is similar to a resort, with limited amenities and a one-hour drive to the stadium. 'We are still negotiating with the organizing committee, hoping to stay closer to the stadium.'

In the previous Hangzhou Asian Games, Taiwan won a silver medal in baseball, with players like Lin Yu-min, Wang Yen-cheng, Ku Lin Jui-yang, Lin An-ko, and Chen Chieh-hsien participating. (Editor: Wu Su-jou) 2026-04-20