(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Snoopy becomes Global Ambassador for World Championship Under-12
Nederlands
 TAIPEI CITY (Taiwan) -
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), which is the world governing body for baseball and softball, on Wednesday (March 18) announced that the world-famous comic strip-icon Snoopy from the cartoon Peanuts will be the official Global Ambassador of this years Baseball World Cup Under 12.
The third edition of the event will be held in Tainan (Taiwan) from July 24 through August 2.
The announcement was made at Daan Forest Park in Taipei City by WBSC-President Riccardo Fraccari.
The Italian was joined by Tainan Mayor Ching-Te Lai, Taiwan Ministry of Education Deputy Director of Sports Administration Tai-Ling Peng and Chinese Taipei Baseball Association Honorary President Tom Peng.
The announcement was followed by a dance performance by a life-sized Snoopy and Charlie Brown.
,,Snoopy's role can help raise awareness and interest in sport amongst more young people, especially the 'digital generation''', Fraccari said.
,,Snoopy is embraced by many different cultures and societies globally and Snoopy's involvement and promotion of the U12 Baseball World Cup can help produce a synergy that we hope can connect more young people with sport and the lasting teachings of sport - on and off the sports field.''
As part of his role as Global Ambassador of the event, Snoopy will be incorporated into the official look and logo of the U12 World Championship.
During the event in Tainan, there will be designated areas with signage featuring Snoopy and other members of the Peanuts-gang.
Snoopy also will be in the stadium himself during the tournament to interact with fans.
Twelve countries will participate in this World Championship.
Playing in Group A are Cuba, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Venezuela, Brazil and Russia.
Playing in Group B are Japan, USA, Mexico, Australia, Nicaragua and France.
The first U12 World Championship was won by Chinese Taipei in 2011, then USA won in 2013.
Recently, the WBSC awarded the hosting of the next three editions (2015, 2017, 2019) to the city of Tainan.
The first two events were played in Taiwanese capital Taipei City.
In the world-famous newspaper strip, as well as television cartoon, Peanuts, Snoopy is the dog of Charlie Brown.
The two, as well as other characters in the strip, frequently play baseball.
Snoopy also played and also has acted as manager of Charlie Brown's team.
The comic strip was created by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000) and was first published in nine newspapers on October 2, 1950.
The strip is the most popular and influential in the history of comic strips with 17,897 strips published through February 2000.
At its peak, the strip was published in 2,600 newspapers with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries, translated into 21 languages.
(March 19)
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