(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
    Olympic Qualifying Tournament moved from Taiwan to Mexico
Nederlands
 PULLY (Switzerland) -
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) announced on Thursday (May 20) that the WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier has been moved from Taiwan to Mexico.
The reason to move the event are new restrictions imposed in Taiwan due to a surge of cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
This tournament is the final Olympic Qualifying Tournament for this years Olympic Games that will be held in Japan in July/August.
The winner of this event becomes the sixth and final team to qualify for the Olympic baseball-tournament.
The Baseball Final Qualifier initially was scheduled to be played April 1-5 last year in Taiwan, but in early March, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the event was postponed to June.
At that moment, the Olympic Games were still scheduled to be held in July.
A few weeks later, it was announced that the Olympic Games were postponed to this year and with that, the Baseball Final Qualifier also was dropped from last years schedule.
The tournament was postponed to this year and was scheduled for June 16-20 to be played in Taichung and Douliu in Taiwan, which also would be the playing sites last year.
Before the Baseball Final Qualifier can begin, the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier has to be played.
The winner of that event becomes the fifth team to qualify for the Olympics, but the teams in second and third place will advance to the Final Qualifier.
The Americas Qualier initially was scheduled for March last year in Arizona (USA), but also was cancelled.
The Americas Qualifier is now scheduled for May 31 though June 5 in Florida (USA).
Australia, Chinese Taipei and the Netherlands have qualified for participation in the Baseball Final Qualifier.
Initially, China also was to participate in this event last year.
The last time that the Netherlands played games in Mexico was in 2019 when it played the Preliminary Round of the Premier12 there in Zapopan.
In a press release, the WBSC issued the following:
The decision was forced by new restrictions the local authorities imposed in Taiwan due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
In particular, travellers without resident visas will not be allowed to enter the island until Friday, 18 June, and the WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier was due to start at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on 16 June.
Following consultations with medical and governmental authorities and the host Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) and the Chinese (Taipei) Professional Baseball League (CPBL), the WBSC Executive Board, in its meeting via video conference on Wednesday, confirmed the decision to move the WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier from Taichung to Mexico.
,,The WBSC and entire international baseball community wish to thank our great hosts in Mexico for ‘stepping up to the plate’ to stage this important tournament and welcome the teams on such short notice,'' said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari.
,,I would especially like to recognise the efforts of the Director General of the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport (Comision Nacional de Cultura Fisica y Deporte-CONADE) Ana Guevara and Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is also a WBSC Global Ambassador, in staging this important Olympic qualifier.
Mexico has already qualified for Tokyo 2020 in baseball and softball, so they are doing this as a great baseball-loving nation and as a service to our sport - and in honour of the Olympic Games and global baseball family.''
,,We also wish to thank the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association and authorities in Taiwan for doing everything possible to stage the event there.
Taiwan remains one of the elite international baseball hosts in the world, and we will return there at the next possible opportunity.''
The dates and venues of the WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier in Mexico will be confirmed very soon.
(May 20)
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