(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Netherlands moves up one spot on World Baseball Ranking List
Nederlands
 LAUSANNE (Switzerland) -
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) unveiled its newest Baseball World Rankings on Friday (November 25).
In the Rankings, a country's entire National Team programme (from Under-12 to Professional) in international competitions over a four-year period is being weighed.
For the newest ranking, this includes the period 2013-2016.
Any points accumulated in the second half of 2012 have now fully expired.
In the current top-12, five continents are represented.
The teams that are listed in the top-12 in 2018 will qualify for the second edition of the Premier12, which will be organized in 2019.
The Premier12 will be a main qualifier for the Olympic Games of 2020 in Japanese capital Tokyo.
First placed Japan earned more points by capturing the title in the recent World Championship Under-23 in México.
With this, Japan now leads second placed USA by 741 points.
The top-5 remained unchanged, as Japan and the USA are followed by South Korea, Chinese Taipei and Cuba.
México climbed from the eighth to the sixth place, while Venezuela remained in seventh place.
Canada dropped from sixth to eighth place.
The Netherlands, which captured the title in September in the European Championship, switched places with Italy.
The Netherlands is now in ninth place and is the highest ranked European country.
Italy follows in tenth place.
Puerto Rico, which was eleventh in the latest ranking, dropped to twelfth place.
Australia climbed from 13th to 11th place to move into the top-12.
That means that the Dominican Republic dropped from the 'Premier12'-list.
The Dominicans were 12th, but are now ranked in 13th place.
The Czech Republic is the third-best European country, as it remained in 14th place.
European countries Germany and Spain also stayed in the same spot as in the last ranking, respectively in 20th and 21st place.
Following the Czech Republic are Panamá (15), Nicaragua (16), Brazil (17), China (18) and Colombia (19).
Following Spain are Argentina (22), Russia (23) and France (24).
Other European countries in the ranking are Great Britain (29), Belgium (30), Austria (31), Sweden (32), Croatia (33), Lithuania (36), Slovakia (38), Ukraine (39), Poland (40), Israel (41), Slovenia (43), Belarus (44), Romania (45), Greece (46), Bulgaria (47), Ireland (49), Switzerland (50), Serbia (51), Finland (52), Estonia (54), Hungary (57), Norway (59), Latvia (62) and Georgia (66).
(November 25)
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