(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
  Final Olympic Baseball Qualifiers to be held in June
Nederlands
 PULLY (Switzerland) -
The World Baseball Softball Confedederation (WBSC) on Tuesday (March 16) announced that the last two Olympic Qualifying Tournaments are scheduled to be played in June.
The dates for the WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier have been confirmed for June 16-20 in Taiwan.
It is now expected that the preceeding WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier will be organized in early June.
The exact dates and the playing site will be confirmed later.
However, it has been announced that the event will take place in Florida (USA).
The Americas Qualifier originally was scheduled to be played in March last year in Surprise and Tempe, Arizona (USA), but then was cancelled due to the coronavirus-pandemic.
In this event, eight countries participate divided into two 4-team groups.
Playing in Group A will be the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and the USA.
Canada, Colombia, Cuba and Venezuela will play in Group B.
The winner becomes the fifth team to qualify for the Olympic Games in Japan.
The teams that will finish in second and third place in Florida will advance to the Final Qualifier in Taiwan, where the games will be played in Taichung and Douliu.
This event was scheduled for April last year, but was also postponed to this year.
The two teams will join Australia, China, Chinese Taipei and the Netherlands.
The winner becomes the sixth and final participant in the Olympic baseball-tournament.
At this moment, only host Japan, Israel, Mexico and South Korea have qualified for the Olympics.
In a statement annnouncing the dates, WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari said:
,,Today’s confirmation regarding these qualifiers should cause great anticipation and excitement amongst both the Olympic and baseball worlds.
I would like to express the WBSC’s deepest gratitude to our hosts in Florida and Taichung, who will be providing us with the necessary settings in which to stage these important international competitions in a safe and successful manner.
Good luck to all the teams and athletes on the Road to the Tokyo Olympics.
It’s time to play ball''.
(March 16)
| 
