Press Release International Baseball Federation, www.ibaf.org
Lausanne, Switzerland – The Havana edition of the 2011 IBAF Executive Committee meeting schedule concluded the evening of Saturday the 29th after a complete day of discussion and decision making. The meeting was an important component of President Fraccari’s four year elected mandate, and included discussion and appointment of the IBAF Baseball World Cup, the relationship with Major League Baseball and reports on the Olympic reinstatement campaign.
The IBAF Baseball World Cup was awarded to Panama after compelling presentations from both Venezuela and Panama. Panama’s Ruben Cardenas, General Director of the Sports Ministry led the presentation to the IBAF Executive Committee, and was jubilant at the opportunity presented to his home nation. The event is slated to include 16 competing teams and will be held in the last week of September and the first week of October. A number of cities across the nation will be utilized, with Panama City the primary city for the event and host of Pool A, while Aguadulce, Cocle; Santiago, Veragues; and Chitre, Herrera to host Pool B.
IBAF – Major league Baseball (MLB) relations were also a topic of discussion with President Fraccari revealing the organisations have come to terms in regards to working on a joint project schedule for 2011, 2012 and 2013. Ongoing conversations are expected to finalise the finer details of the relationship in the coming months. The plan will see MLB and IBAF collaborate on developing the game globally, and will see an increase in financial support for the IBAF commencing in 2011.
Olympic reinstatement also proved to be a focus point for the meeting, with reports from President Fraccari on his recent meetings with International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge in Lausanne. The outcome of the meeting saw the IBAF leave with a better sense of what areas the organisation needs to target in an effort to further align the two organisations. Accompanying President Fraccari to the meeting was Secretary General Israel Roldan, 3rd Vice President Antonio Castro, Treasurer Rene Laforce and Executive Director Roberto Fabbricini.
Also of relevance to the Olympic Reinstatement campaign was the presentation to the executive committee in reference to the IBAF’s planned presence at Sport Accord 2011 in London, the United Kingdom. The event is a major focal point for the international sporting community and will allow the IBAF to display to the community the great strides taken by the organisation over the last year. The executive committee was called upon to reach out to the member federations in an effort to gather more information about the global game to ensure the presentation is a full representation of global baseball, with no stone left unturned in the search for relevant information.
The meeting also saw the approval of the minutes from the Chinese Taipei edition of the executive in November 2010, the presentation of information in reference to the 12 and under world championship from Chinese Taipei in mid July, the 16 and under world youth championship from Largos del Moreno in Mexico and financial & administrative reports from various organs of the IBAF.