Four Cities Hosting World Baseball Classic Qualifiers -- Federations Focus

(ATR) There will be four qualifying tournaments for the 2017 World Baseball Classic that takes place in 2016.

Fox Sports says the four tournaments will be staged in Australia, Mexico, Panama and New York. The tournaments in Sydney, Australia and Mexicali, Mexico will begin in February 2016 with the tournament in Panama City, Panama coming a month later in March. The final tournament will take place in Brooklyn, New York in September.

Only 16 teams will play in the World Baseball Classic set to begin in March 2017. Twelve of the teams that will play have already qualified based on their performances in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. This leaves one spot for each of the winners of the four qualifying tournaments.

Each of the qualifying tournaments will consist of four national teams competing in double elimination play. The last game of the tournament is winner-take-all regardless of record. This is the second year of this qualifying format for the World Baseball Classic.

The fourth edition of the tournament will determine which team will be considered the WBSC world champion for the first time.

"The World Baseball Classic has helped to elevate the popularity, value and attractiveness of National Team properties and gives the fans another great opportunity to see some of their favourite players playing for their countries," says WBSC president Riccardo Fraccari.

FIBA Implements New Competition System

In order to allow fans in Europe the opportunity to see their national teams play more often, FIBA is changing the competition format to create regular home and away games for European national teams.

"Today only a few countries are lucky enough to see their teams play at home if they are hosts of tournaments," said FIBA Europe executive director Kamil Novak.

"This will change with the new calendar system where fans will have the opportunity to support their national team at home on a regular basis, in a clear lead up to FIBA flagship events."

The new competition format will serve as qualification for major FIBA competitions such as the world cup and EuroBasket Cup. Games will be played over a 15-month cycle with teams divided into two divisions.

The system will first be implemented for the 2019 FIBA basketball world cup qualifications. Games will begin in November 2017. FIBA sports and competition director Predrag Bogosavljev says the new system will have 140 countries playing in 1,250 games.

IPC Confident Ahead of Para-Athletics Championship

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and IPC Athletics leaders are in Doha, Qatar ahead of the IPC Athletics world championships for a test event this week.

The GCC Para-Athletics championships finished this week and gave the IPC the opportunity to test the operations and functions necessary to put on a quality championship. After the test event, IPC leaders feel confident the Doha 2015 Para-Athletics championship will go off without a hitch.

"We have been able to witness a lot of functional areas that are going to be in operation during the World Championships and from what we have seen, we are sure that the World Championships in a few weeks’ time will be very successful," said IPC Athletics chairman Ryan Montgomery.

Areas tested at the event include: the ability of Hamad International Airport to support a large influx of passengers with impairments; the accessibility of buses and other forms of transportation as well as their loading zones; and the implementation of structural modifications to the stadium and official hotel to ensure accessibility.

Chief executive officer of the Doha 2015 organizing committee Ameer al-Mulla said all of the inspections went well.

"All operational tests have gone smoothly and to plan during the GCC Para-Athletics Championships indicating that we are fully prepared to host a World Championships in October that will be organised to the highest possible standards," said al-Mulla.

The IPC Athletics world championships will take place October 21-31.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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