LAUSANNE, Switzerland – The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) has released its first ever Women’s World Rankings and Canada has come up in third spot, behind Japan and the United States.
The rankings coincide with the federation’s continued push to grow women’s baseball worldwide and with its positioning to include a women’s component in its bid for reinstatement in 2016. Baseball is among seven sports up for vote on Thursday, wherein the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Committee will shortlist the group to two sports. The selected sports will then be voted upon in October for inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Programme.
The initial Women’s World Rankings are based solely upon results from past IBAF Baseball World Cups. While the logic behind the women’s rankings is similar to that of the men’s – only IBAF sanctioned or recognised tournaments featuring a lineup exclusively of national teams (no club teams or semi-professional teams) will be considered – one main difference is that they will be inclusive of the three most recent IBAF Women’s Baseball World Cups (men’s include two at the most). Points for these events will be weighed based on the most recent World Cup finishes, with the 2008 World Cup receiving the most points, 2006 the next most and 2004 the least.
The complete IBAF Women’s World Rankings are listed below:
1. Japan (180.00)
2. United States (160.00)
3. Canada (140.00)
4. Australia (100.00)
5. Chinese Taipei (80.00)
6. Korea (30.00)
7. Hong Kong (23.40)
8. Cuba (20.10)
9. India (20.00)
Also, the third instalment of the Men’s World Ranking was released and sees the cycling out of tournaments that no longer fall in the four-year window necessary for inclusion, as well as the addition of several more. Many events in the Asia and Oceania regions were not included in past rankings, and thus are reflected here.
Tournaments and championships that have been added or removed include:
Added: 2007 and 2009 World Port Tournament
Added: 2005 and 2007 Southeast Asia Games
Added: 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games
Added: 2007 South Pacific Games
Replaced: 2005 Asian Championships with the 2009 Asian Championships
Removed: 2005 European Championships
Despite the addition and removal of certain tournament to the Men’s World Rankings, the standings did not see much change. Canada remains in eighth, while the only notable shift was Venezuela who moved to ninth from 11th, flopping with Australia.
The top 20 IBAF Men’s World Rankings are listed below:
1. Cuba (1209.68)
2. Korea (984.82)
3. Japan (947.00)
4. United States (889.32)
5. Chinese Taipei (591.82)
6. Netherlands (412.57)
7. Mexico (302.75)
8. Canada (280.19)
9. Venezuela (233.18)
10. Puerto Rico (215.39)
11. Australia (214.11)
12. Panama (212.32)
13. Dominican Republic (135.68)
14. Nicaragua (131.25)
15. Italy (130.88)
16. China (125.00)
17. Thailand (58.50)
18. Spain (54.50)
19. Philippines (50.83)
20. Brazil (41.50)
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