OSAKA, Japan — The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today announced that two Japan-based conglomerates have been named official sponsors of the 2015 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup™, the highest and most elite global competition for baseball players aged 16-18, being staged from 28 August to 6 September in Osaka, Japan.
The latest in a series of recent agreements for WBSC — representing a potential boost for baseball/softball’s inclusion at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games — sees Japan’s biggest oil company, JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation, and total healthcare company Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. partner with WBSC.
Tokyo-based JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. will have its leading brand, ENEOS, featured on signage across the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup competition venues, including iconic Hanshin Koshien Stadium, and all media backdrops. The partnership on the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup marks the first time that JX Group, which has several high-profile partnerships across the motor sports world and has sponsored past WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cups, expands into the international youth baseball market to help further grow global awareness of its leading brand.
The 2013 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup had a potential global broadcast reach of 144 million homes and potential online/mobile reach of 20 million.
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. will have one of its flagship nutritional products, Pocari Sweat, become the official sports drink of the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup. Supporting the 12 National Teams’ elite athletes over the course of 50 games in 10 days, Pocari Sweat will help replenish the athletes with electrolytes and water so that the players are in peak-performance condition throughout the U-18 Baseball World Cup.
“The WBSC is absolutely delighted to welcome ENEOS and Pocari Sweat — brands that specialise in top performance and exceed the very highest standards,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. “These two new partnerships are in full alignment with what the U-18 Baseball World Cup represents and the exciting action that we can expect from the world’s top young baseball players on the global stage in Osaka,” Fraccari said.
Past players who have participated in the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup, along with its continental qualifiers, have gone on to become some of the biggest superstars in the sport.
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About ENEOS
ENEOS is the corporate brand name of JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation, the largest oil company in Japan. ENEOS brand motor oil is developed to exceed the highest standards of the automotive industry. ENEOS product ranges from motor oil that offers optimal performance protection under the most extreme temperature variations, to ecologically friendly motor oil that provides superior fuel saving capacity.
JX Group conducts business based on respect for five key values, abbreviated as EARTH: ethics, advanced ideas, relationship with society, trustworthy products and services, and harmony with the environment. For more information please visit http://www.noe.jx-group.co.jp/english/.
About Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
The Otsuka Group develops four main businesses including Pharmaceutical Business, Nutraceutical Business, Consumer Products Business and Other Businesses.
Otsuka is committed to a holistic approach to health and well-being of people and is striving to create innovative, thoroughly-original pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products based on the corporate philosophy “Otsuka-people creating new products for better health worldwide”.
For more information, please visit: http://www.otsuka.co.jp/en/index.php.
