Six nations advance to Super Round of WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup, Broadcast coverage expanded

Broadcast coverage added in Mexico, Panama, Singapore, Puerto Rico and United States, raising potential reach of U-15 Baseball World Cup to over 60 million

IWAKI, Japan – The World Baseball Softball Confederation today revealed the schedule for the second stage of the III WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup 2016.

Following the 30-game Opening Round, the battle For the Title of World Champion in Iwaki has been cut from twelve to six nations.

World No. 1 Japan, No. 5 Cuba and No. 20 Colombia have advanced from Group A, while No. 4 Korea, No. 14 Australia and No. 16 Czech Republic were eliminated from the world championship competition.

In Group B, world No. 2 United States, No. 6 Venezuela and No. 17 Panama will be advancing, whereas No. 3 Chinese Taipei, No. 7 Mexico and No. 30 New Zealand will no longer being competing For the Title of World Champion.

In the phase II “Super Round”, the top three nations from Group A will battle the top three nations from Group B from Thursday, 4 August, to Saturday, 6 August.  The top two super nations at the end of the Super Round will play in the world championship final on Sunday, 7 August, at 14:30 at Iwaki Green Stadium.

Australia, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, Korea, Mexico and New Zealand have been relegated to the Consolation Round to play for 7th to 12th place in the final standings.

EXPANDED BROADCAST COVERAGE AND LIVE-STREAM

Broadcast and worldwide live-streaming coverage will be expanded for the Super Round to the Finals.

New broadcast agreements have been reached for the territories of Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the United States.

Mexico City-based AYM Sports has acquired rights in Mexico, Puerto Rico and the United States to broadcast the U-15 Baseball World Cup 2016 to its six million LAS network subscribers in the territories.

Panama public broadcaster, Sistema Estatal de Radio y Televisión (SERTV, “State Radio and Television System”), has been awarded the exclusive broadcast rights in the Central American nation. Panama’s win against Chinese Taipei on 30 July was trending on Twitter in the nation.

Singapore’s Eleven Sports Network has also acquired the broadcast rights of the world’s premier U-15 sports event, which raises the overall potential broadcast reach to over 60,000,000 households.

Viewer from 169 countries and territories watched Opening Round game/highlight footage of the U-15 Baseball World Cup 2016 via www.youtube.com/wbsc.

STAT LEADERS

The U.S. is the #U15WorldCup leader in both team batting average (.420) and earned run average (1.09), while Cuba, the defending U-15 world champion, leads in team fielding (.989). (View Individual and Team Leaders)