WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup: China finish fifth, Chinese Taipei sixth; Placement Round positions finalised with Finals set for Sunday

The penultimate day of the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup confirmed the final positions from 5-12 with just the final between Cuba and France and the bronze medal game between Türkiye and Mexico still to play on Sunday.

China confirmed their spot in fifth place with Chinese Taipei finishing sixth. The Placement Round was also completed with Ghana, Tunisia, Korea, Australia, Malaysia and Zambia finishing in the positions seven to 12 respectively.

Competition day number five gave us six games and a historic moment as Mexico took one set against Cuba. Can France also surprise Cuba in the final and can Mexico beat home team Türkiye to claim 3rd place? We will see that tomorrow.

'I'm very emotional and excited," said Mexico captain Jesus Santos after the match, which saw Mexico become the first team to take a set off Cuba on the world stage. "We worked as a team and we are more than ready to bring a medal to our country tomorrow.''

Mexican won the second set in the second extra-inning 7-6 but had to admit the superiority of Cuba in the best of three sets: 1-7, 7-6, and 1-3.

Did Santos expect such results so far at the World Cup? ''Of course, this is why we have worked very hard in our country and we are done for big things''

The first teams to hit the field on Saturday were China and France, which the European champions won in a thriller - 1-4, 4-3, 4-3* (*1 extra inning).

The second game in the Super Round was between the home team Türkiye and Chinese Taipei. It was the only Super Round game that was over in two sets. Türkiye couldn’t find the form they had in previous days and lost to Chinese Taipei 2-0 (6-2, 9-3)

Meanwhile, in the Placement Round, the last games of the tournament saw Australia take on Tunisia, Zambia play Ghana and Malaysia up against Korea.

Tunisia beat Australia 11-1, 1-3, 6-1 to finish eighth while Zambia won the all-Africa clash against Ghana 8-0, 5-8, 6-2 for their first win of the tournament. Korea beat Malaysia in the last match of the day 6-2, 3-4 and 8-2.