Press Release Italian Baseball and Softball Federation
On his way back from the G8 in the city of Aquila, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Italy Franco Frattini stopped Tuesday at Villa Madama and delivered the World Cup of Baseball to the Mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno during a press conference.
“Rome will host the headquarters of the tournament and will support the organizers in many ways” said Alemanno “As you know, some of the most important games of this World Cup will be played in Nettuno, including the final on September 27th. So, this is a tournament that will give visibility to the whole metropolitan area of Rome”.
The Province of Rome will promote the event in New York later in July.
“Actually” explained Patrizia Prestipino, the Deputy for Sport and Tourism of the Province of Rome “We expect a relevant presence of incoming tourists from the USA. We believe our beaches have a lot of potential and of course there’s the tourism linked to the memory of those who lost their life in this area during World War 2. Their sacrifice has always been a very strong link between Nettuno and the United States of America”.
During the Press Conference the Minister of the Environment Stefania Prestigiacomo has announced that the organizers of the Italian part of the World Cup have obtained the status of Green Event from the European Union and that the event has also been certified according to the regulation ISO 14001.
“We took pretty seriously the directives of the International Federation” said Prestigiacomo “And we are proud to say that we are ready to have an event that will respect environment in every part of its organization”.
The President of the Organizing Committee of the Italian part of the tournament Mauro Miccio also explained that a series of movies inspired to baseball will be distributed before and during the World Cup in schools of the cities that are hosting the tournament and that Rome will host in the San Michele complex and exhibition dedicated to Diamonds.
Italian Federation President Riccardo Fraccari announced that ticket sales will be launched in the next few days: “We are all impressed by what the organizing committee have accomplished, hopefully we will make everybody happy on the field”.
The World Cup will give a chance to the Embassies of the countries participating in the tournament to organize slow pitch softball teams and compete in their own tournament.
Photos by FIBS