NEWSLETTER - 27 MAY 2016

WBSC reveals record 124-game schedule for 2016 Women's

WBSC announced the official tournament schedule of the 2016 Women's Softball World Championship that will take place in Surrey, Canada, from 15-24 July. The 15th edition of the women's flagship event will showcase a record total of 124 international games.

Opening ceremonies will begin at 18:30 at the main competition field, which will be followed by Canada meeting Great Britain in front of the home crowd. The Grand Final game will take centre stage on 24 July at 18:00, and will be preceded by the bronze medal match at 13:00. Read more...

Argentina wins 2016 South American Men's Softball Championship

Nine teams from the South American region gathered in Panama City, Panama for the event, including Argentina, U-19 Argentina, Aruba, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama-A, Panama-B, Peru and Venezuela.

Argentina, ranked No. 6 in the world for men's softball, won the 2016 South American Men's Softball Championship over No. 4 Venezuela, 1-0. Argentina remained unbeaten throughout the tournament winning all ten games played.

In the Bronze Medal game, Venezuela prevailed over the host team Panama-A by 3-2 in eight innings. Read more...

Historic Women's Professional Softball League launched in

The Chinese Taipei Amateur Softball Association announced the establishment of "Taiwan

Professional Women's Softball League" in May. The nation's first-ever softball league will open its inaugural season in June and will be recognized as softball's top-tier league in the country. Chinese Taipei, a member of WBSC since 1965 (ISF), is currently No. 5 in the latest WBSC Softball World Rankings.

With the support from Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, Sports Administration and Legislative Yuan, the inaugural season of Taiwan's first-ever professional softball league will commence on 18 June.

In its first season, four teams will play a total of 48 games before the top two teams enter the best-of-three finals for the championship title of the season. The games will be played during weekends throughout fields in Taipei and Taichung during the span of five months. Read more...

Olympian Monica Abbott signs first US$1 million professional softball contract

Monica Abbott -- the youngest member on the silver medal 2008 Beijing Olympic national team for USA -- has signed the first US$1 million contract in the National Professional Fastpitch (NPF) league history.

The contract is reported to be the most lucrative paid by an individual American professional franchise to an active female athlete in team sports.

The Houston-area Scrap Yard Dawgs, NPF's newest expansion team, signed the free agent to a six-year deal expected to pay her US$1 million. It is the first million-dollar contract in the history of NPF, which begins its 13th season later this month with six teams and plays a 50-game regular season. Read more...

Jamaican Sports Minister lauds development efforts during Primary School Softball League opening

Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Minister, Hon. Olivia Grange, has hailed the Jamaica Amateur Softball Association (JASA) for its development of the sport in schools locally.

The Minister also recognised the work of Canada Softball, the governing body for softball in Canada, for organising and conducting coaching and umpiring courses in Jamaica. Ms. Grange described the body's input as a "critical step forward" for the entrenchment of the game in Jamaica. The WBSC -- through the Softball Division -- is also assisting the JASA's development with a donation of softball equipment valued at over US$35,000. Read more...

WBSC.org now in 5 languages: Chinese, Japanese, Korean added to English, Spanish

All WBSC content and features -- such as news, press releases, the international calendar, ™ microsites, WBSC World Rankings and historical information -- are now accessible to fans, media, broadcasters/TV announcers and worldwide audiences across five languages, helping to shape a consistent voice and raise awareness of the WBSC brand and its international sport properties.

The activation of the three new websites -- Chinese, Japanese and Korean -- expands upon versions in English and Spanish, the official languages of WBSC. Read more...

No. 1 in Internet Media Buzz: 2015 WBSC Premier12 tops charts in Taiwan from Oct 2015 to Mar 2016, only sports event to make Top 10

The inaugural WBSC Premier12™ in November 2015 recorded the highest volume of internet media buzz in Taiwan for the six-month period of October 2015 to March 2016 in the category of entertainment, according to a report published by OpView, the nation's leading online and social media listening and analysis service.

The WBSC flagship international baseball competition registered a 25% difference over the second-most popular entertainment topic and was the only sports competition to make the top 10 entertainment list in the Q4 2015 to Q1 2016 reporting period. Read more...

Iwaki City unveils new $2.3 million turf for WBSC U-15 2016 venue

The City of Iwaki has successfully completed a US$ 2.3 million (254,000,000 JPY) synthetic turf project for Nambu Stadium, one of three venues that will host the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup 2016 from 29 July to 7 August.

City officials consider the bright green turf a symbolic step toward recovery. Community and civic leaders continue to rebuild and transform the region following the Great East earthquake that struck five years ago. Iwaki Green Stadium, one of the three U-15 Baseball World Cup 2016 venues, was used as a temporary earthquake shelter in the aftermath. Read more...

Groups, Branding revealed for LG Presents WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup 2016 Gijang, Korea

WBSC unveiled the groups and the Official Look for the LG Presents WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup 2016 in Gijang, South Korea. The pinnacle platform in women's baseball will be contested from 3-11 September.

For the opening round/group stage, the 12 nations of the LG Presents WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup 2016 Gijang have been drawn into three groups of four and ordered by world rank. Read more...

WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup 2016 branded bus unveiled, will serve Iwaki- line

The Official WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup 2016 branded highway bus was unveiled by Iwaki city officials to media at an unwrapping ceremony on Friday, 13 May.

The promotional vehicle -- styled with the Official Look and Slogan, "For the Title of World Champion" -- of the pinnacle U-15 international baseball tournament will begin service transporting passengers between Iwaki and Tokyo. Read more...

LG expands global presence in baseball, partners with Baseball Federation of India

LG Electronics India, subsidiary of the South Korean electronics giant, and the Baseball Federation of India have announced a partnership to promote the sport of baseball in the nation of 1.2 billion people.

LG India will supply the national governing body with elite sports kit and support India's National Baseball Teams in preparation for events like the LG Presents WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup 2016.

Hyosun Choi, Senior General Marketing Manager of LG Electronics India, said: "We take pride in being associated with the Indian Baseball Teams. LG aspires to contribute to the promotion of baseball. It is exciting to see these young budding players associated with such a renowned global game." Read more...

Baseball Australia, AUS gov't launch baseball social initiative for youth, women in Indonesia

Baseball Australia and the Australian Government (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) have launched the "Diamonds in the Rough" social development programme in Indonesia to help promote gender equality and the prevention of domestic violence through sport.

Baseball is among 10 sports that form the Australian Sport for Development in Asia programme, which aims to spread the values of sport-competition, teamwork and fair play-and build trust between countries, as well as share Australia's own identity, values and culture. Read more...

Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland -- the Olympic Capital -- the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) was established in 2013 and granted recognition as the sole competent authority for the sport of Baseball/Softball by the International Olympic Committee at the 125th IOC Session on 8 September 2013. The WBSC has 213 National Federation and Associate Members in 142 countries and territories across Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania.

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