OTTAWA-The International Baseball Federation revealed hosts for three World Cup events over the weekend at meetings in Prague, Czech Republic and Baseball Canada has been named host of the 2017 18U World Cup that will take place in Thunder Bay, ON.
The event returns to the city that successfully hosted the top 18 and under players in the world back in 2010 where Chinese Taipei won gold with Canada finishing fourth.
“The Thunder Bay International Baseball Association is proud to have been selected to host this high caliber international event for the second time. This day is a true testimony of the event hosting ability of the TBIBA and is a tribute to the high quality volunteers that step up to assist Thunder Bay event hosts like us to operate high profile events.” stated Larry Hebert, President of the TBIBA in a press release. “With the success of the 2010 World Juniors fresh in the minds of our citizens, the TBIBA looks forward to hosting another great event for Thunder Bay residents and visitors from near and far.”
Japan was named host of the 2015 18U World Cup that will take place at historic Koshien Stadium, known as the "Mecca of Japanese Baseball". The stadium, built in 1924, is the home of the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball and both the spring and summer (High School) Koshien Tournaments.
An 18U World Cup Qualification tournament for the Americas is tentatively scheduled for Lagos de Moreno, Mexico in 2014.
The IBAF also announced that Taichung, Taiwan will host the inaugural 21U World Cup November 7th-16th, 2014. Executives also voted to grant National Teams the option to include a limited number (maximum of three participating in a match at any given time) of 23U players on their 21U Baseball World Cup rosters.
Twelve countries are slated to participate in the event.
“The bids presented were exceptional, and I am fully confident these Baseball World Cups will be in excellent hands and serve as worldwide platforms for the athletes to shine and proudly wear their national teams' jerseys,” said IBAF President Riccardo Fraccari. “Securing such high-quality hosts for our events is a key indicator of baseball and softball's global appeal, popularity and development and of the lasting legacy and value returned to the host communities in various countries.”
For more information, please visit ibaf.org
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