Press release World Baseball Softball Confederation
SAKAI, Japan — 20 November 2019 — The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today revealed the groups and schedule for the Baseball AmericasOlympic Qualifier, and the schedule of the Baseball Last Qualifier, following a live draw conducted at Hotel Agora Regency Sakai, in Sakai, Japan, on the eve of the 3rd WBSC Congress.
“After today’s draw, all the teams know their Road to Tokyo 2020,” said WBSC Secretary General Beng Choo Low. “The excitement and expectation for the historic baseball return to the Olympic Games will escalate with these two qualifiers, setting the table for an unforgettable baseball event in Tokyo 2020.”
WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier
Group A: No. 2 USA, No. 11 Puerto Rico, No. 12 Dominican Republic, No. 15 Nicaragua
Group B: No. 5 Cuba, No. 9 Venezuela, No. 10 Canada, No. 14 Colombia
The WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier will be held in Arizona, USA, from 22-26 March.
The 12-game Opening Round will be played from 22-24 March, and the top two teams of each group will advance to the Super Round carrying the result of the game played between each other. The top National Team in the tournament final standings will gain a berth for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Baseball Last Qualifier
The WBSC also announced the schedule of games of the six-team WBSC Baseball Last Qualifier, to be held in Taichung, Taiwan, from 1-5 April.
World No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No. 8 Netherlands, No. 20 China, the top finisher of the Oceania Pre Qualifier and second and third place of the Americas Qualifier will play a single round robin for the final spot in the Olympic Games.
The winners of the Baseball Americas Qualifier and the Baseball Last Qualifier will join Japan (host team), Israel (Europe/Africa), Mexico (Premier12) and Korea (Premier12) in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games baseball competition.
WBSC Open Workshops a great success
Empowering the member federations was the tagline for the WBSC Open Workshops held on Wednesday, on the eve of the third WBSC Congress, at the Hotel Agora Regency Sakai and they responded accordingly with packed rooms across all four topics – Coach Commission Project, Scoring Application, Baseball5 and Website/OTT Platform.
Key events and wild cards confirmed by WBSC Executive Board
Mexico will be one of the hottest destinations for Baseball and Softball in 2020 after the WBSC Executive Board approved three of its key events to be staged in the country next year. Just days after its men’s baseball team qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time after finishing as the top team from the Americas at the WBSC Premier12 2019, Mexico was confirmed as the host of the U23 Baseball World Cup while Monterrey was approved as the host of the U15 Baseball World Cup.
The third part of the trifecta is one of WBSC’s fastest growing properties – Baseball5 – with the World Cup set to be held close to the end of the year.
The Board also voted on the allocation of wild cards for Baseball and Softball events in 2020 as per the following:
|
Event
|
Number of Wild Cards
|
Applied Countries
|
Elected Country
|
| U15 Baseball World Cup | 1 | Mexico | |
| Women’s Baseball World Cup | 2 | Cuba, Netherlands | |
| U23 Baseball World Cup | 1 | Korea (21 votes) Australia (6 votes) | Korea |
| U18 Women’s Softball World Cup | 1 | Philippines | |
| U18 Men’s Softball World Cup | 1 | Israel (2 votes), USA (24 votes) | USA |