HONG KONG – The World’s No. 2 and current WBSC Jr. Men’s World Champions Japan successfully defended their Jr. Men’s Asian softball title this weekend. Japan defeated No. 16 Philippines 5-2 in Hong Kong to win the Softball Confederation of Asia (SCA) U-19 Men’s Softball Championship.
Japan and Philippines finished as the top two seeds following the robin round preliminary round and faced each other in the first semi-final playoff game. Philippines won 3-2, which advanced them directly to the Gold medal game; while Japan advanced to the Bronze medal game..
India and Indonesia finished as the 3rd and 4th seed and faced each other in the second semi-final game. Indonesia won 10-2 and advanced to the bronze game against Japan; while India finished the championship in 4th place.
In the bronze medal game, Japan defeated Indonesia 5-4 to advance to the Grand Final against the Philippines.
Takuro Inagaki (JPN), who hit a grand slam homer in the final game, received the best batter award with the highest batting average for the tournament.
Points will be awarded for the WBSC Softball World Ranking Presented by ENEOS based on the final standings, which will give India, Hong Kong, and Thailand men’s softball rankings for the first time.
Final Standings
- No. 2 Japan (8-1)
- No. 16 Philippines (5-3)
- No. 20 Indonesia (4-4)
- NR India (4-3)
- No. 21 Singapore (2-4)
- NR Hong Kong (2-4)
- NR Thailand (0-6)
