Lausanne, Switzerland, March 17, 2021: The World Baseball Softball Confederation has announced the timing and locations of the two remaining baseball qualifiers for the six-team competition at Tokyo 2020.
The eight-nation WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier is expected to be held in early June (exact dates/venues to be confirmed) in Florida, with the six-team WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier to follow from June 16-20 in Taichung and hosted by Chinese Taipei.
“Today’s confirmation regarding these qualifiers should cause great anticipation and excitement amongst both the Olympic and baseball worlds,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari.
“I would like to express the WBSC’s deepest gratitude to our hosts in Florida and Taichung, who will be providing us with the necessary settings in which to stage these important international competitions in a safe and successful manner. It’s time to play ball.”
Four teams have already qualified for Tokyo - world No. 1 Japan, No. 3 Korea, No. 5 Mexico and No. 18 Israel – and the fifth team will come from the Americas qualifier in Florida.
The WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier - which will award the sixth and final berth for Tokyo 2020 - is scheduled from June 16-20 at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium and Douliu Baseball Stadium in Douliu City.
The participating teams are world No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No. 6 Australia, No. 9 Netherlands, No. 22 China and the second- and the third-place teams from the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier.
The format, groups and schedule of the final qualifier will be announced in a future communication.
Source: https://www.wbsc.org