Lahore
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), together with the Mexican Baseball Federation, and respective Local Organising Committee (LOC), has announced postponement of the 2020 WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup till 24 September to 3 October 2021, in consideration of the global health and safety measures and travel limitations pertaining to the coronavirus pandemic.
The world-championship event had been set to take place this year from 30 September to 9 October in the Mexican cities of Ciudad Obregon and Los Mochis, according to the information made available to the APP here on Saturday by the Pakistan Federation Baseball.
“As we continue to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic, the WBSC, as well as our hosts and all stakeholders, consider the rescheduling of the U-23 Baseball World Cup to 2021, to be the best and safest course of action,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari.
“While today’s decision is disappointing, I am confident that our Mexican hosts next year will be able to deliver the best-ever U-23 Baseball World Cup, where fans can fill the stadiums and cheer on their favourite National Teams, building upon the wave of momentum for our sport in the weeks following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games”, he added.
The 12 qualified teams competing for baseball’s world title in the U-23 category will remain as follows: Africa (1): No. 24 South Africa Americas (4): No. 5 Mexico (host, defending World Champion), No. 7 Cuba, No. 8 Venezuela, No. 15 Nicaragua Asia (3): No. 1 Japan, No. 4 Chinese Taipei and No. 22 China Europe (2): No. 16 Czech Republic and No. 19 Germany Oceania (1): No. 39 New Zealand Wild Card (1): No. 3 Korea Mexico won the last U-23 Baseball World Cup, which was held in Barranquilla, Colombia, in October 2018.
Previous U-23 Baseball World Cups have included the top young professional players from clubs affiliated to the Australian Baseball League (ABL), Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Major League Baseball (MLB), Mexican Baseball League (LMB), Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), in addition to other leagues around the world.
The WBSC, together with the respective Mexican host, will continue to monitor and review the timing of the 2020 Women’s Baseball World Cup (12-21 November in Tijuana) and the U-15 Baseball World Cup (30 October – 8 November in Tijuana).—APP
