By IBAF, www.ibaf.tv
A press conference was held today in Rome, Italy, delineating the planned format for the 2009 Baseball World Cup. IBAF’s Secretary General John Ostermeyer said, “I am confident this World Cup will be remembered as a very important step towards the reinstatement of baseball in the Olympic program. For the first time, IBAF kept control of the tournament and will run it in partnership with 7 different federations. Italy is the main country. I have great respect for the achievements Italian sport has had. As an Australian, I am very proud of the history of my own country’s sport achievement, but I am aware that in this building there have been made historical decisions.”
Secretary General of the Italian NOC Raffaele Pagnozzi was in Beijing: “I liked IBAF President Harvey Schiller’s presentation. I can say that this time baseball has a solid project and this World Cup format will lead directly to Copenhagen in the fall of 2009. My idea is that baseball has a real chance this time, while in Turin I felt a general mood of sadness around the International Federation.”
Where do they plan to play in Stockholm?
Oh, and can someone please clarify the final round for me? Will it be the same as last year in Taiwan with quarterfinals, or some sort of round-robin?
My swedish is not that good. But I believe they play in Skarpnäcks IP in Stockholm or in Örvallen in Sundbyberg.
http://www.baseboll-softboll.se/t2.asp?p=9842&x=1&a=1130092
According to the graphic of the IBAF, I do believe they changed the format to a round robin in the final round.