Taiwan defeated Guatemala 7-2 on the first day of the 2010 Junior League Baseball World Series tournament that opened Sunday in Taylor, Michigan, according to sources with the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA). Taiwan was to encounter Ukraine the following day, the CTBA said, noting that Ukraine is an unknown quantity for Taiwan's young players, who have rarely met the nation in international baseball games. The Junior League Baseball World Series sees the participation of 10 teams of 13- and 14-year-olds divided into two pools -- the United States and the international pool. The U.S. pool groups the five best teams from the western, southeast, central, southwest and eastern regions of that country. Taiwan is in the international pool, which also groups Ukraine, Mexico, Guatemala and Canada. The top two teams from each pool will go through to the semi-finals slated for Aug. 20, with the final set to be played the day after. Taiwan won an Asia-Pacific tournament last month to earn its ticket to the world series. The country won the championship in 1992 and again in 1996. 