Women's Baseball World Cup Group B press conference: Teams "thrilled" to be in Miyoshi City
The WBSC and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the IX Women's Baseball World Cup Group B, presented by CARNEXT, introduced four of the six participating teams to the local press who were "excited" and "thrilled" to be participating in the premier international women's baseball tournament in the world and promoting the game as a whole.
"Children are going to come to see us play," said Japan's captain, Yuki Kawabata, a former Japan's professional league batting champion. "My goal is to make them feel like they're willing to play baseball."
World No. 1 Japan, the six-time defending Women's Baseball World Champion, is the team to beat.
"The team's spirit is our strength," said manager Risa Nakashima, a former World Champion pitcher. "Each of my players aim at promoting women's baseball. This also gives us a lot of strength. We are responsible for giving women's baseball opportunities and visibility."
Nakashima said she started with 47 players and cut them to 27 after the first scrimmage. Every other National Team went through a similar long selection process.
France manager Lahcéne Benhamida said that his side, ranked No. 16 in the world, started the selection process with 50 players. The process leading to the final 20-player roster included some help from Japanese National Team players, who participated in some training sessions.
"My players really love getting together to compete. They will do their best in every occasion and situation."
France, who are making their debut WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup appearance, is the two-time defending European Champion. "We are thrilled to be here," said captain Camille Foucher. "We can guarantee we will do our best on the field."
Also, Rene Sarria, the manager of No. 7 Cuba, emphasized team spirit and the will to work together. "We started assembling the team in October," he said. "We worked on a pre-selection of 50 players before cutting them to 20."
Captain Dayana Batista guaranteed: "We are excited and will give all we have during this tournament."
World No. 2 Chinese Taipei manager Ming Huei Huang said that the best 20 players are picked yearly after completing the National Championship. "Our team developed great chemistry. We all work as a family, from the seniors to the younger players."
Captain Yu Ying Hsieh added that the team has only one goal, "advancing to the World Championship stage next year."
Puerto Rico and Venezuela are also participating in the tournament, however to delays with their travel schedule they weren't able to attend the press conference.
The local press expressed a lot of interest in No. 5 Venezuela. The Venezuelan Baseball Federation (FEVEBEISBOL) celebrated in the summer the XIII Women's Baseball National Championship and the VI National Junior Championship. Lara won both leagues.
No. 9 Puerto Rico is one of the fastest growing Women Baseball's programmes. They finished second behind in the WBSC Americas Qualifier and swept Cuba in a friendly series in May.
"We couldn't be in a better place to introduce to the world the new, exciting format of the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup," said WBSC Executive Director Michael Schmidt on behalf of WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. "Six National Teams will compete starting tomorrow. They represent three different continents. This is all what the WBSC is about, bringing the world together."
