The WBSC U-15 Women’s Softball World Cup provides a perfect vehicle of continuing the legacy of Tokyo 2020 and making it a platform for younger athletes to reach their Olympic dreams and inspire more to pursue softball.
The event
will take place across three venues – Komazawa Olympic Park Sports Complex
Baseball Stadium, Setagaya City Okura Sports Centre Baseball Ground and Ota
Stadium - in Tokyo, Japan from 21-29 October.
“Earlier
this week, we saw softball confirmed as part of the sports programme for the
Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028,” WBSC secretary general Beng Choo Low said
during her speech at the press conference on Friday.
“This came
after much hard work done by the WBSC and our other stakeholders, and we
believe that the global nature of our sport played a large role in its
selection. It is also fitting that we are here in Tokyo for this event, two
years after softball took centre stage during the Tokyo Games.
“There, we saw softball’s biggest stars compete for the gold medal during an exciting competition, and the IOC’s announcement means that we will see future Olympians in action at the World Cup.”
For World No. 1 USA and World No. 2 Japan, they see the U-15 World Cup not to pit them as rivals, but rather as collaborators benefitting from cooperation and solidarity for the sport.
“It’s a
wonderful experience to be here and to be able to play softball in Japan. That
is more important than rivalry. I think we are good friends rather than rivals.
We really look after each other and raise the level of softball around the
world, and it’s still a great sport, so I think we’re good friends in that
sense.” USA head coach Kyla Holas said.
“For me USA
is a good friend than being a rival. We have competed with the USA team and we
always played good games. The most important goal of this tournament is to
showcase softball as a great sport for young girls to love and enjoy,” Japan
coach Yu Yamamoto added.
“In Tokyo, we showed the next generation how great of a sport softball is and that people of all ages can love it. We are happy that softball will be back at the next Olympics – from Tokyo 2020 to LA28.”
Head
coaches of Brazil, Czechia, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines,
Puerto Rico and Chinese Taipei each highlighted their team’s strengths, creating
a vibrant and exciting age-group competition.
Milton
Satoshi Konno – Brazil
“Our strength
is happiness that is an inherent characteristic of Brazilians. I hope that
through this happiness, we can enjoy this tournament, we can enjoy the sport
with players and coaches of other teams.”
Daniela
Viktorynova – Czechia
“Czechia’s
strength is that we have good athletes on our backs. We will play with all our
might.”
Maristella
Perizzolo – Italy
“The team’s
cohesiveness is Italy’s strength. We are happy that we are able to take part in
such a competition. Our goal is for our players to enjoy this competition and
give their best performance.”
Cesar
Arturo Alcaraz de Anda – Mexico
“We are
very happy to be here in Japan. We are a 16-strong team with good attack. For
me, our depth is our strength. Our offence is great and all the players have a
clear sense of purpose for being here.”
Anthea
Nadene Stringer – New Zealand
“Our
strength would be whanau, which means family in Maori language. Our team
shares the passion of being together as a family. We support each other and support
those around us and learn from tournaments.”
Abel Jorge
Fernandez Portelles – Peru
“Our players have great experience. Our players know their responsibilities and they have confidence in day-to-day games. We trained really hard and well for this competition. Therefore, our strong point is that we have a high-level of discipline.”
Nina Avila
Serafico – Philippines
“My girls are very passionate about the game. The players enjoy playing very much. Their determination will lead to bigger things because we always help each other out. We are very happy to be here, and we will enjoy each moment because it’s already a privilege to be here. We fight with a heart.”
Geraldo
Flores Malave – Puerto Rico
“I want to
thank everyone for making this event happen. I am very happy to come to Japan and
our team hopes that we will have a good performance against different
countries. We hope to win our games here.”
Mei-Fen
Chen – Chinese Taipei
“This competition will be the first in this group, which we should all celebrate because we all created history. I am pleased to share this experience with all the teams.
The opening
day will feature five games between Philippines and Czechia, Peru and Mexico at
08:30 local time, Chinese Taipei and host Japan at 13:30, Brazil and USA at
16:00, and New Zealand and Italy at 16:30.
All these matches will be broadcast live on GameTime.