30/11/2017 1 Minute Read

Tanzania Koshien Baseball Championship is ready to go

It’s the National Championship for secondary school teams. The fifth edition will feature 12 participants. Shynia Tomonari of AFAB put Tanzania Baseball and Softball Association in touch with main sponsor Osaka North Rotary Club. David Robinson will attend.

Tanzania Baseball and Softball Association is organizing, 1 through 3 December, the fifth edition of the Tanzania Koshien Championship, the National Championship for secondary school teams.

A total 12 teams will participate this year.The tournament is named after Japan’s Koshien High School championship, which is one of the biggest annual sporting events in Japan. Main advocate of the event is the Association of Friends of African Baseball (AFAB). Chairman Shynia Tomonari, a former member of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tanzania, is the founder of Tanzanian baseball.
Thanks to Tomonari, Osaka North Rotary Club will be the main sponsor of the event.

Amongst the supporters of baseball in Tanzania, David Robinson will attend the games. Born in 1952, David is the youngest child of legendary Brooklyn Dodgers Jackie Robinson and his wife Rachel. Since 1983, David has been involved in the economic development of Africa throgh sustainable agriculture and is a Coffee Farmer at Sweet Unity Farms. The father of 10 children, spends his time between his home in Dar Ed Salaam and the coffee farm in Mbeya.

David Robinson (centre) during the closing ceremony 2016. On his right Japanese Ambassador Masaharu Yoshida and on his left umpire Katsuhiko Koyama

The Koshien Championship will serve also the purpose of selecting the team that will represent Tanzania at the East Africa Championship, to be played in Mwanza, Tanzania, from 7 through 10 December.