The II U-12 Mixed Baseball Championship for primary schools was held in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, with 240 kids from 12 primary schools participating in the event. The tournament, named the Fukuoka Cup, took place 18-19 June at Koshien Baseball Field at Azania Secondary School. The youth tournament was organised by the Tanzania Baseball & Softball Association (TaBSA).
The idea of establishing baseball for primary schools in Tanzania was made possible by the Japanese volunteers from the University of Teacher Education Fukuoka who went through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tanzania in 2018-2020 to coach U-12 children.
A total of eight schools participated in the first edition of the tournament last year, with four additional schools added to the second event.
The opening ceremony was attended by Dar Es Salaam region Sports Officer, Mr. Adorph Halii, while the closing ceremony was done by JICA Tanzania Senior Chief Representative, Mr. Hideki Watanabe.
From 23-26 May, Tanzania hosted the historic WBSC Baseball5 World Cup African Qualifier in Der Es Salaam.
With the support of the WBSC, last year TaBSA also introduced baseball for the blind in the country.
