GB Baseball Team place confirmed in 2009 World Cup
By confirming the participation of the GB Baseball Team and five final qualifiers from the Americas, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) has now finalised the make-up of the five preliminary-round groups for the 38th Baseball World Cup, to be held in seven European countries from September 9-27, 2009.
The GB Baseball Team will travel to Moscow for its first-round games, where it will compete in a group that also includes Japan, Nicaragua and Russia.
Teams that competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games automatically qualified for the 2009 Baseball World Cup and the final five teams from the Americas were decided at the Baseball Cup of the Americas held earlier this month in Venezuela.
Confirmation that the GB Baseball Team will take up the place it earned by finishing second in the 2007 European Championships in Barcelona came in a letter to the BBF from IBAF Secretary-General and Executive Director John Ostermeyer, dated October 16. But this letter was preceded by negotiations between the BBF and the IBAF during which GB’s place appeared in some doubt.
The IBAF seems to have been worried by the fact that the GB Team was unable to take up its place in the Secondary Olympic Qualifier staged in Taiwan in March 2008 due to lack of funds, and required additional assurances that the team would in fact compete in the World Cup. The BBF was able eventually to provide these assurances to the IBAF’s satisfaction.
Playing the Best
GB Baseball Team General Manager Alan Smith said: “Our second-place finish in Barcelona last September qualified GB for the 2009 World Cup and we are looking forward to the challenge of playing against the world’s best teams.
”John Ostermeyer told me at the weekend that IBAF are delighted that GB will compete in the World Cup. He went on to say that GB’s recent progress and significantly raised profile within Europe mean ‘that IBAF now see GB as integral to their goal of having baseball viewed as a truly international sport, not simply an American sport played internationally’.”
GB Baseball Team Head Coach Stephan Rapaglia said, “We were thrilled to receive formal confirmation of GB’s inclusion in the 2009 World Cup, as we regard this event as an unparalleled opportunity for both the Great Britain Baseball programme and for European baseball in general.
“No GB team in recent history has competed against national teams from outside Europe, and it will be a great challenge for us to go up against the likes of Japan and Nicaragua in the preliminary round in Moscow. Japan, of course, is one of the top teams in the world, and Nicaragua also has a rich baseball tradition. Nevertheless, we expect to field a very strong roster for this event, and we will not back down from any opponent.
“As the host of our preliminary round pool, Russia will have a great deal to prove. But we expect to face one or both of the young Russian pitchers currently playing professional baseball in the US, and accordingly, there will be no walkover games for us. However, most of the members of our World Cup roster will have had substantial international experience, and we believe this level of experience will serve GB well as we face the pressures of the competition.”
In preparing to play in this top international event, the GB Baseball Team will be looking for sponsorship, and will make a range of sponsorship opportunities available to interested parties. For more information, contact General Manager Alan Smith through the Contacts Page in the National Teams section of the BBF website.