WOMAN SERVES AS UMPIRE-IN-CHIEF IN TAIWAN

According to a Chinese Post article posted by the always entertaining and provocative East Windup Chronicle blog, 30-year-old Sophiyah Liu has become the first woman to serve as an umpire-in-chief in Taiwan. Although the story did not say whether Liu umpires in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, it stated that she umpired in last month’s 2009 Phoenix Cup international women’s tournament, and has umpired several national baseball games in Taiwan. She has been invited to work in Australia’s National Women’s Baseball Championships next month. Liu served as an interpreter at the 2007 Baseball World Cup in Taiwan, as well as for the New York Yankees when they visited Taiwan earlier this year.


Liu’s interests are not limited to baseball. She owns a black belt in karate (no doubt helpful in disputes with players and managers), plays the trumpet, speaks German and some Arabic, and is pursuing a social work degree at one local school in Taipei while working as a professor’s assistant at another. She also claims to be able to communicate with the spiritual world, although she has separated from her prior life as a medium since converting to Islam in 2005. When asked how she finds time for all her interests, she says, “I don’t watch television.”