Taiwan Abandons Little League Series

Taiwan, the reigning champions of the Little League World Series and winners of 12 of the last 23 tournaments, left the organization Wednesday and won’t defend its title, the league said.

Officials in Williamsport, Pa., home of the annual championship, said Taiwan had broken league rules by drawing players from an area with too large a population, even though they came from a single school.

League rules restrict teams from drawing players from areas with a population larger than 20,000 people. In Taiwan, single leagues were pulling from schools with more than 3,000 children each.