Ten days before the start of the congress in Lausanne, Switzerland, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) has released detailed information about the gathering at the Centre de Congress et d’Expositions Beaulieu. The IBAF Congress will start on Friday December 4th and Saturday December 5th with continental meetings and a meeting of the executive committee.
On Sunday, December 6th the actual IBAF Congress takes place with the usual reports from the president, secretary general, treasurer, about the anti-doping program and the 2009 Baseball World Cup. Also discussed will be future events like the 2011 Baseball World Cup among others, strategic relationships with professional baseball. In the afternoon (2pm to 5pm) the elections of the executive committee will follow. The press conference with the results is expected around 4pm to 5pm CET.
Nominated Candidates for Executive Committee (see PDF-file for nominating federations):
IBAF President (currently: Dr. Harvey Schiller (USA)): Riccardo Fraccari (ITA), John C. Ostermeyer (AUS)
1st Vice President (Masatake Matsuda (JPN)): Kazuhiro Tawa (JPN), Alonso Perez Gonzalez (MEX), Tom Peng (TPE)
2nd Vice President (Martin Miller (GER)): Alonso Perez Gonzalez (MEX), Osvaldo Vavra (CRO), Ishola Williams (NGR)
3rd Vice President (Alonso Perez Gonzalez (MEX), vacant, leave of absence): Osvaldo Vavra (CRO), Antonio Castro Soto del Valle (CUB)
Secretary General (John C. Ostermeyer (AUS)): Jan Rijpstra (NED), Martin Miller (GER), Ishola Williams (NGR), Israel Roldan (PUR)
Treasurer (Rene Laforce (BEL)): Rene Laforce (BEL), Alexander Ratner (RUS), Ruud van Zetten (NED), Tony Chau (HKG)
1st Member at Large (Alex W.J. Huang (TPE)): Paul Seiler (USA), Alexander Ratner (RUS), Sam Pelter (ISR), Tom Peng (TPE), Luis Melero (ESP), Seung-Kyoo Kang (KOR)
2nd Member at Large (Eric Pierre Dufour (FRA)): Paul Seiler (USA), Alexander Ratner (RUS), Sam Pelter (ISR), Tom Peng (TPE), Luis Melero (ESP), Seung-Kyoo Kang (KOR)
3rd Member at Large (David Molina (GUA)): Paul Seiler (USA), Alexander Ratner (RUS), Sam Pelter (ISR), Tom Peng (TPE), Luis Melero (ESP), Seung-Kyoo Kang (KOR)
Thanks for the update. It’s a pity that Baseball has been excluded from the Olympics for the time-being, giving way in the end to Rugby and Golf.
Although Rugby is a great game in its own right, I do question the validity of including the 7-man version of the game, rather than the full 15-man format. It most likely is due to the 7-man form game being played in two “halves”, each of seven/ten minutes, whereas the 15-man game has two 40 minute halves. So the 7-man, (Rugby Sevens) format allows for a number of games to be played in a short timeframe.
The inclusion of Golf will obviously bring some of the greatest names in modern sport to the olympics. What a drawcard it will be to have Tiger Woods at the games.
Maybe it is this lack of “big names” that has counted against baseball.
Sure, we do have some great players, whose reputations are well known in baseball playing countries, but how many of these are truly famous on the world scene in the tradition of a Tiger Woods or (dare I say it) a Jonah Lomu?
Of course, the issue of doping within the sport has undoubtedly hurt its chances as well, with even those top names being tarnished as some stage.
Do we need to revisit the unification of baseball and softball as an viable option that may see the code again represented in the olympics, or is the gulf between the two games completely necessary and insurmountable?
I look forward to replies 🙂
Katie Kay Holmes.
Antonio Castro is the son of Fidel?
It certainly looks like that.
Cool! Antonio for 3rd vice president! 🙂
Yes it is. Antonio/Tony Castro is also the team doctor for the Cuba baseball team.