Beijing, China; 30th June 2008: Softball's campaign to be reinstated onto the Olympic Programme in 2016 moved closer to reality with the news that all 300-plus thousand tickets for the softball games in the Beijing 2008 Olympics have now been sold.
The news that the sport's global showcase event is sold out will strengthen the global BackSoftball campaign led by International Softball Federation President Don Porter. The aim is for softball to return as a sport onto the 2016 Games programme after missing out by the narrowest of margins (only one vote) for the London 2012 programme at the 2005 Session of the International Olympic Committee in Singapore.
Mr. Porter commented, "This is wonderful but not unexpected news that confirms that softball is an immensely popular Olympic sport. It means that tens of thousands of people in China and from all around the world have chosen softball as their Olympic sport of choice. They will be joined by hundreds of millions of worldwide television viewers who cannot travel to Beijing. We anticipate strong following from all 130 countries that are officially part of the global softball family.
"We have had this kind of success attracting spectators not only at past Olympics, but in the same stadium in Beijing two years ago when we had our women's world championship there. Even at our Jr. Men's World Championship (19-and-under) that ended yesterday in Whitehorse (Yukon, Canada) there were sellout crowds. Certainly softball is a sport that people around the world are enjoying playing and watching.
"As a result, we're optimistic that the IOC will take notice of the universal appeal of softball and vote in (October) 2009 to reinstate our sport to the 2016 Games," the ISF president continued. "Our Back Softball progress report that we recently issued shows that our sport has made great strides globally over the last couple years, and these sellout crowds in Beijing and the exciting games that will be played in front of them on that field in China are further testimony to why softball is a great asset to the Olympic Movement."
The aforementioned progress report is available in the OTHER DOCUMENTS section of www.BackSoftball.com.
The eight teams that will compete from August 12-21 are Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Netherlands, USA, and Venezuela.
Accompanying this release is a photo of a sellout crowd at the late August/early September 2006 ISF XI Women's World Championship at Fengtai Softball Field - the 2008 Olympic venue.
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