Australia Pulls Out of Tokyo Baseball Qualifier

(ATR) Now only the Netherlands, Dominican Republic and Venezuela will compete in Mexico for the last Olympic ticket.

Guardar

(ATR) The Final Olympic Baseball Qualifier has been reduced to three teams following Australia's withdrawal.

"We regret it but we have to go on," World Baseball Softball Confederation president Riccardo Fraccari tellsAround the Rings.

The former Australian Major League Baseball player Glenn Williams never thought he would have to announce the unpleasant decision just starting in his new position as executive director of the Australian Baseball Federation.

"Attending the Final Olympic Qualifier in a COVID world would always present significant challenges," Williams said in a statement on Wednesday.

"We worked through multiple options and scenarios, but the logistical challenges of providing a safe environment for the group were insurmountable."

"The planning for Taiwan was extensive and with the late change of location and dates, those plans became obsolete," said Williams, who was a member of the Australian team that won the silver medal at Athens 2004 after losing the final to Cuba.

Originally this World Pre-Olympic was to be held in Taichung, Chinese Taipei, but a sudden outbreak of Covid-19 in Taiwan forced the Asian nation's baseball authorities to give up on continuing to organize the tournament a month ago.

Despite the short time to stage the event, Mexico stepped up and will hold the tournament in Puebla from June 22-26.

Unfortunately, Chinese Taipei - ranked fourth in the WBSC rankings - also announced last week that it would not send its national team to Mexico due to the epidemiological situation.

Australia, in sixth place, was then the highest-ranked team in the international rankings among the four teams to participate in the Puebla Pre-Olympic.

Now the battle for the sixth and final Olympic ticket will focus on Venezuela, the Netherlands and the Dominican Republic, the eighth, ninth and tenth ranked teams.

Williams said that even if Australia had won the event, time would not allow the team to complete the mandatory two weeks in hotel quarantine upon returning home and then meet the "entry requirements" for the Tokyo Games which open on July 23.

WBSC explained that the three teams will now begin the tournament on a round-robin basis. The first-place finisher advances directly to the final. The second and third place finishers will face each other in a playoff match for the other place in the final.

The Dominican Republic and Venezuela finished second and third behind the United States at the recent Americas Olympic Qualifier while the Netherlands finished second at the Europe/Africa Pre-Olympic in September 2019.

The five qualifiers for the Olympic tournament in Tokyo are Japan, the United States, Mexico, South Korea and Israel.

Written and reported by Miguel Hernandez

For general comments or questions,click here.

Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.

Guardar

Últimas Noticias

Utah’s Olympic venues an integral part of the equation as Salt Lake City seeks a Winter Games encore

Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation chief of sport development Luke Bodensteiner says there is a “real urgency to make this happen in 2030”. He discusses the mission of the non-profit organization, the legacy from the 2002 Winter Games and future ambitions.
Utah’s Olympic venues an integral part of the equation as Salt Lake City seeks a Winter Games encore

IOC president tells Olympic Movement “we will again have safe and secure Olympic Games” in Beijing

Thomas Bach, in an open letter on Friday, also thanked stakeholders for their “unprecedented” efforts to make Tokyo 2020 a success despite the pandemic.
IOC president tells Olympic Movement “we will again have safe and secure Olympic Games” in Beijing

Boxing’s place in the Olympics remains in peril as IOC still unhappy with the state of AIBA’s reform efforts

The IOC says issues concerning governance, finance, and refereeing and judging must be sorted out to its satisfaction. AIBA says it’s confident that will happen and the federation will be reinstated.
Boxing’s place in the Olympics remains in peril as IOC still unhappy with the state of AIBA’s reform efforts

IOC president details Olympic community efforts to get Afghans out of danger after Taliban return to power

Thomas Bach says the Afghanistan NOC remains under IOC recognition, noting that the current leadership was democratically elected in 2019. But he says the IOC will be monitoring what happens in the future. The story had been revealed on August 31 in an article by Miguel Hernandez in Around the Rings
IOC president details Olympic community efforts to get Afghans out of danger after Taliban return to power

North Korea suspended by IOC for failing to participate in Tokyo though its athletes could still take part in Beijing 2022

Playbooks for Beijing 2022 will ”most likely” be released in October, according to IOC President Thomas Bach.
North Korea suspended by IOC for failing to participate in Tokyo though its athletes could still take part in Beijing 2022