Pokemon helps set stage for grand opening of U-12 Baseball and Softball World Cups in Tainan

Pokemon helps set stage for grand opening of U-12 Baseball and Softball World Cups in Tainan
25/07/2019

The presentation happened in a cheerful atmosphere at the Performance Hall of the city Cultural Center. WBSC Executive Director Michael Schmidt revealed the Trophies. Day one for both tournaments is scheduled on Friday, 26 July

The Performance Hall at the Tainan Cultural Center in Tainan (Chinese Taipei) hosted the presentation of the U-12 Baseball World Cup and the U-12 Softball World Cup.

The pre-event show opened with a performance by the Tainan Chongming Elementary School Concert Band. The young musician touched a few emotional chords with superb execution of the pop classic We are the Champions by the Queen.

The concert was followed by a dance exhibition of the CT Girls.

All U-12 National Teams participating in the two tournaments attended. They were made familiar with WBSC U-12 World Cup Ambassador Pokemon.

“WBSC is the only International Federation that stages World Cups for this age bracket and this makes us proud,” said WBSC Executive Director Michael Schmidt, “but our biggest thank you goes to the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, the long-standing host of the U-12 Baseball World Cup, and the city of Tainan.”

The U-12 Baseball and Softball World Cups will be played in Tainan, Chinese Taipei

WBSC Executive Director Michael Schmidt revealed the U-12 Baseball World Cup Trophy

A new stadium, with a field built specifically for the U-12 age group, will open for the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup 2019.

The U-12 Baseball World Cup will take off on Friday, 26 July at 10 am local time (10 pm on Thursday, 25 July, US Eastern and 4 am CEST) with the games Italy-Venezuela and Japan-Czech Republic. The Opening Ceremony will begin at 5.50 pm local time and precede the last game of Day 1 between Cuba and the hosts Chinese Taipei, scheduled at 6.30 pm. The super round will begin on Thursday, 1 August, and the finals are scheduled on Sunday, 4 August.

The SCHEDULE

The three-time defending World Champions USA are everybody’s pick as the favourites.
“I’m aware everybody will be going for us, but in a youth World Cup anything can happen. We respect every team and we are just focused on winning one game at a time,” commented manager Todd Fine.

The National Team of Fiji will play the role of the absolute beginners.

“We’ve had baseball in Fiji for 19 years now,” explained manager Inoke Niubalavu “but as a Country, we still don’t realize how huge baseball is. This is a great opportunity for us.”

Complete interviews with Todd Fine and Inoke Niubalavu

WBSC YouTube channel and the OTT Platform Game Time will stream 22 out of 30 games of group play and all the games of the super round and of the medal round.

Videoland will be broadcasting the games in Chinese Taipei. Select games of the Japanese National Teams will be broadcasted by JSports.

The first-ever WBSC U-12 Softball World Cup will be a four-team tournament. It takes off on Friday, 26 July, at 10 am local time with the game between Peru and the Czech Republic. After three days of round-robin play, the top two National Teams will play for the title of World Champion and the other two will play for a bronze medal on Tuesday, 30 July.
WBSC YouTube channel and the OTT Platform Game Time will stream all the games.

The SCHEDULE

The WBSC issued for the U-12 Baseball and Softball World Cups a total of over 160 working credentials to the media. This includes over 40 photographers.