Women’s European Championship opens with a berth at The World Games on the line, Italy prepares for Tokyo 2020

The Women’s Softball European Championship opened on Sunday with nine games in three fields in Italy, with 17 teams plying for the continental crown. Host team Italy is not only defending their European title, but also preparing for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where the world No. 9 will face Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico and USA starting in three weeks time.

The 17 teams were allocated into four groups for the opening round:

• Group A: Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia.
• Group B: Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands.
• Group C: Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Israel.
• Group D: France, Spain, Slovakia, Ukraine.

The event will run until 3 July, with the final scheduled at 1 p.m. in Castions Di Strada. In 2019, Italy was crowned champion of the European Championship with a 3-2 win over Netherlands.

The winner of the continental event will get the final place in The World Games Birmingham 2022. World No. 1 USA (host), No. 2 Japan, No. 3 Canada, No. 5 Mexico, No. 6 Chinese Taipei, No. 7 China, No. 8 Australia, and the winner of the European Championship 2021 will participate in the eight-team competition.