(ATR) A week after being selected for possible inclusion at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation says Japan has a "fever" for his sport.
The WBSC will stage its first Premier 12 tournament next month, a showpiece event that could impress IOC members.
"We have to show the IOC that we have a global sport," WBSC president Riccardo Fraccari told Around the Rings on Monday. "We made a lot of steps during this past year."
The Premier 12 will open in Sapporo and bounce between South Korea and Taiwan before finishing with semifinals and finals at the Tokyo Dome.
"This is how we can show [IOC members] that Japan is a perfect stage for baseball because they have a fever for this tournament.
"For sure, we can show them the appeal of baseball and softball in Japan."
The next edition of the Premier 12, planned for 2019, will likely work as a qualifier for the 2020 Olympics if baseball is added to the program.
"At the beginning, our proposal [for the Olympics] was eight teams. We studied one system, and now we need to consider six."
Fraccari suggested the six teams could come from a combination of the Premier 12 and continental qualifications "from Asia, America, and Europe," but that is "one of the possible scenarios that WBSC could put under review as a potential qualification system if included in the 2020 Games."
It is not yet known if an automatic berth for the host country would be part of the deal, though it seems likely the organizing committee would have requested one as a condition of the sport’s addition to the program.
The Premier 12 is a baseball-only event for now, though Fraccari says plans are in motion to add a softball edition soon.
Fraccari also said discussions with Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred on the possibility of professional participation at Tokyo 2020 have been fruitful.
"Commissioner Manfred knows it is important to work for the youth appeal of baseball and softball, and up to now, he has been very cooperative.
"I am confident we will find a solution for having the best tournament possible at Tokyo 2020."
Written by Nick Devlin
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
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