Meulens, who has MLB coaching experience, was on the Dutch National Team that defeated Cuba at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Baseball and softball will make their return to the Olympic Games in 2021 after last featuring at Beijing 2008.

New dates for the WBSC Americas Qualifier and the Final Qualifier will be announced in due time.

With the outbreak of COVID-19, the world will have to wait one more year for the return of baseball and softball at the Olympics Games at Tokyo 2020.

President Fraccari said baseball-softball’s anticipated Olympic comeback will have to wait a short while longer but when the ‘Tokyo 2020’ Games do get underway in 2021, they will become the symbol of our global recovery and solidarity, and be one of the greatest worldwide celebrations and most anticipated moments in the history of sport.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020, but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.

As part of the accord, National Team roster sizes will increase from 24 players to 26 for the upcoming WBSC Olympic qualifiers.

After consulting with medical and governmental authorities, a joint decision by the WBSC and the Local Organising Committee has been taken to postpone the event.

WBSC will live-stream the international games on its YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/wbsc.

The WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier will take place from 22-26 March in Arizona, while the Final Qualifier will be staged in Taiwan from 1-5 April.