We already received a press release from last weekend’s first meeting of the executive committee of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) with confirmation on Rome’s ballpark plans and the appointment of Roberto Fabbricini as new executive director. Riccardo Schiroli published a few more notes on FIBS.it.
- The IBAF is going to introduce commissions for development, competition, umpiring, scoring, marketing and media, legal matters and the return to the Olympics. Anna Maria Paini was appointed chairman for scoring, while Augusto Gustavo Rodriguez heads the umpires. The other commissions will be named during the next meeting of the executive committee on June 12th, although IBAF President Riccardo Fraccari already announced that he will lead the Olympics commission.
- Fraccari emphasized that Baseball is not only an American, but global sport. He sees the IBAF like a car with the office being the engine. He was satisfied with the talks with the professional leagues in the past couple of weeks. They are also going to review the relationship with the continental confederations to transform them into true continental offices of the IBAF. In his program before the elections last fall, Fraccari had expressed his will to create continental confederations, which are clearly affiliated to the IBAF (IBAF Europe, IBAF America,…).
- The 2010 Intercontinental Cup will be held in Taiwan according to Honkbalsite.com. The Netherlands already have received an invitation for the tournament, which will be held from October 23rd to 31st. The KNBSB hasn’t decided yet, if they will make the trip. FIBS.it also says that currently the Czech Republic, Japan, Korea, Nicaragua and title holder Cuba have confirmed their participation.
- Taiwan also has submitted its candidacy for the 2011 Baseball World Cup. They already were host in 2001 and 2007. One task of the aforementioned competition commission also will be to assess the current formats of international tournaments and to make sure that for example a Baseball World Cup and the World Baseball Classic aren’t going to be scheduled in the same year.
Photo: © Ratti/FIBS