(Story & Photos by Marco Stoovelaar)
 New international Men Softball-tournament this year in Prague
Nederlands
 PRAGUE (Czech Republic) -
On August 28, the new Intercontinental Cup for men softball opens at the site of SK Joudrs Praha in Czech capital Prague.
The new event is sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).
The Final of the five-day tournament, which is nicknamed 'battle of the continents', will be played on September 1.
Seven countries will participate in the inaugural edition of the Intercontinental Cup, representing all continents, Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Oceania.
New Zealand, ranked first on the WBSC-ranking list, will led the field of participants.
Last year, for the seventh time, New Zealand captured the title at the World Championship in Whitehorse (Canada).
There, New Zealand defeated Australia 6-4 in the Final.
Joining the New Zealand Black Sox at Svoboda Park in Prague are Japan (ranked 3rd), Argentina (4), USA (6), Czech Republic (7), Denmark (11) and Botswana (12).
...Gabriel Waage...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Denmark represents Europe as the highest ranked European country, as host Czech Republic of course automatically participates.
What European countries are concerned, Denmark is followed by Great Britain (13) and Netherlands (19) on the WBSC-ranking list.
Next year, the World Championship Men Softball will be organized at the same site in Prague, the first time that the global event will be played in Europe.
,,The event is a great opportunity for us, as the organizers of the Men's Softbal World Cup 2019, to make sure that everything will work as we expect it to'', said Gabriel Waage, President of the Czech Softball Association, in a press release.
,,At the same time, the Intercontinental Cup is an important part of the promotional campaign leading towards the Worlds in 2019'', Waage continued.
During the event, there also will be a game of an European All Star Team (Team Europe) against reigning World Champion New Zealand.
...The Netherlands Women Softball Team captured the...
...Euopean title at the site of Joudrs in Prague in 2013...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
The complex of SK Joudrs Praha has been the site for numerous international events in the past few years, including the European Women Softball Championship and European Cup-tournaments.
Two days after conclusion of the Intercontinental Cup, Prague also will be the site of the Men's European Super Cup-tournament, which will be held September 3-8.
It will be an interesting Summer for softball-fans in the Czech Republic.
Besides the Intercontinental Cup and European Super Cup, there will be two more events in the counry.
On June 25-30, Havlíčkův Brod, southeast of Prague, will be the site of the 14th European Men's Softball Championship.
Two weeks earlier, the first-ever Men's Slowpitch European Championship takes place in Choceň from June 12-16.
In the past, there also have been Intercontinental Cup-tournaments in both baseball and women softball.
From 1973 through 2010, there were seventeen Intercontinental Cup Baseball-tournaments.
Four of these events were organized in Europe: Italy (1973, 1993), Belgium (1983) and Spain (1997).
The Netherlands and Italy were the only two European countries to finish in the top-3.
In 2006 and 2010, the Netherlands reached the Final and won the Silver Medal.
In 2010, Italy finished in third place.
In women softball, two Intercontinental Cup-tournaments were played.
In 1989 in Verona (Italy) and in 1993 in Haarlem (Netherlands).
In the first event, the Netherlands finished in fourth place and Italy in eighth.
Four years later, Italy ended in third place and the Netherlands in fourth.
(February 5)
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