Australian Olympic Softball Team cuts prelim roster to 23
21/01/2021 2 Minute Read

Australian Olympic Softball Team cuts prelim roster to 23

The national governing body had to cancel the Selection Camp announced for February due to health prevention measures.

The Australian National Softball Team has narrowed its preliminary roster to 23 athletes and will open training camp on 18 February at the Australian Institute of Sport, aiming to win their fifth Olympic medal in history in the Tokyo Olympics this summer, Softball Australia has announced.

Headlined by Olympic medallists Stacey Porter and Justine Smethurst, the preliminary roster includes the 21 athletes from the 2020 roster, with the addition of Bree Trim and Georgia Hood -- the ace of the Australian U-19 National Team that finished fourth place in the WBSC U-19 Women’s Softball World Cup 2019 in Irvine, California, USA. The full preliminary roster was published on Softball Australia’s website on 20 January.

Head Coach Laing Harrow, a WBSC Softball Hall of Fame member, who was confirmed in the job after winning undefeated the Olympic ticket at the WBSC Softball Asia Olympic Qualifier in 2019, will meet with the entire group on 18 February, starting a training camp that will last until 7 March.

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The national governing body had announced in December a selection camp with 34 athletes invited to participate. However, it had to be cancelled due to various COVID-related restrictions, so Softball Australia decided to name 23 players to continue training with Tokyo 2020 in mind.

Australia, one of only two nations to win a medal in all four Olympic softball events (the other is USA), earned its ticket to Tokyo by winning the WBSC Softball Asia Olympic Qualifier and will have the honour to officially open the Olympic Games competition, facing Japan in Game 1 of the softball event in Fukushima on 21 July, two days prior the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony.

Following the training camp, Australia will host the Australia Pacific Cup from 8-11 March.

Road to Tokyo 2020