Seoul (Korea). The XXV IBAF 18U Baseball World Championship will commence on Thursday, August 30 in Seoul, Korea. 12 teams are traveling to the city of the 1988 Olympic Games to compete in the tournament.
Chinese Taipei is the defending champion after beating Australia 8-4 in the Gold Medal Game at Port Arthur Stadium in Thunder Bay, Canada in 2010. Cuba finished in third place right in front of Canada.
21 of the 45 games at the 2012 edition will be televised live with eight cameras to Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei. During the preliminary phase two to three games and in the second round two games are going to be broadcasted each day plus the championship game.
Teams are split into two groups with Chinese Taipei leading Pool B with Japan, Canada, Panama, the Czech Republic and Italy. Host Korea is at the top of Pool A with Team USA, Venezuela, Australia, Colombia and the Netherlands.
The first round will take in a round robin format with the top three from each pool moving up to the second round. The advancing teams will keep their records except for the games against the eliminated teams. After another round robin the top two teams will reach the Gold Medal Game.
The XXV IBAF 18U Baseball World Championship will use Jamsil and Mokdong Baseball Stadiums in Seoul. Both venues are used by professional baseball teams regularly. Jamsil hosted the demonstration tournament at the 1988 Olympic Games.
The pre-competition meetings of officials and teams, press conference and a welcome dinner on the eve of the tournament were just a prelude to the first day of game play on Thursday. Six games are on the schedule with the opening ceremony in between at 1pm at Jamsil Stadium.
In the morning Venezuela will face Colombia and Japan takes on the Czech Republic. After the opening ceremony the Netherlands square off with host Korea, while Italy meets with Chinese Taipei. In the evening Canada enters the tournament against Panama and the United States play versus Australia. Live play by play will be available for every game via Gametracker on www.ibaf.org.
Schedule
Thursday, August 30, 2012
09:00 Venezuela – Colombia (Mokdong)
09:00 Japan – Czech Republic (Jamsil)
14:00 Netherlands – Korea (Jamsil)
14:00 Italy – Chinese Taipei (Mokdong)
18:00 Panama – Canada (Mokdong)
18:00 USA – Australia (Jamsil)