The Baseball Federation of Japan (BFJ) revealed the dates of the first Baseball5 National Championship.
The tournament will involve 32 participating teams and open on Saturday, 23 December. The opening round includes three more events on 13, 20 and 21 January 2024. The final round is scheduled for 4 February in Yokohama.
Eight teams participated in the first-ever Baseball5 event in Japan in July 2022.
The announcement came in Chiba, where BFJ hosted a training seminar for Baseball5 game officials. Sujeewa Wijayanayake, the Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) deputy umpire director, coordinated a group of instructors, including Yamagami Takeshi, Mino Masataka, Mitsuhiro Tamura and Ayako Rokkaku.
The course had 29 participants from various areas of Japan. Classes included an introduction to the five-on-five version of baseball/softball, basic rules, and classes on how to score and promote the game.
