The World Baseball Softball Confederation today revealed the official competition schedule for the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup® 2017 Tainan, at a press conference in Taiwan's capital, Taipei.
The IV WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup will be contested over 50 games and three rounds: Opening Round (Group Stage), Super Round and World Championship Medal Round.
The global tournament -- which will be staged in Tainan, Taiwan, from 28 July to 6 August -- is the highest-level of competition for 11- and 12-year-old baseball players.
"The U-12 Baseball World Cup represents the first opportunity for top young players in our sport to be named to the National Team, to wear their nation's jersey and play for a world championship," said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. "Over these 50 games in Tainan, we will see which nation's young baseball players and National Team youth programme is the strongest."
It was also announced that world-famous PEANUTS comic strip icon, Snoopy, will join the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup line-up as the Promoting Ambassador in Taiwan. Snoopy and the Peanuts characters, such as Charlie Brown, Lucy and Woodstock, will be incorporated into the official look/venue dressing of the U-12 Baseball World Cup 2017 and have an in-stadium presence for fan- and social media engagement.
WBSC also recently unveiled the U-12 Baseball World Cup 2017 promotional video, which has been viewed over half a million times since its release.
The official microsite of the U-12 Baseball World Cup 2017 has been made available at wbsc.org across five languages, including English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Traditional Chinese.
Baseball is the only team sport that currently stages a World Cup for athletes as young as the U-12 age category.
Opening Day
South Africa -- the continent's top baseball nation -- and current Americas U-12 champions Mexico will officially open the U-12 World Baseball Cup 2017.
The U-12 champions of Asia, Japan, will face European qualifiers Czech Republic.
Oceania U-12 champions Australia will take on two-time defending U-12 world champions United States.
Wild card Panama will meet Asian qualifiers Korea, while European U-12 champions Germany will open against U-12 Baseball World Cup 2015 bronze medallists Nicaragua.
Following the Opening Ceremonies at Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium, host nation Chinese Taipei, the 2015 runners-up, will meet Americas qualifiers Brazil.
Super Round
The top three finishers from Group A will battle the top three finishers from Group B in a three-day Super Round. A Consolation Round will be staged for 7th to 12th Place.
World Championship Medal Round
The top two U-12 National Teams following the Super Round will meet For the Title of World Champion on Sunday, 6 August, at 18:30 at Tainan Municipal Stadium. The 3rd/4th Place Bronze Medal Match will be staged at 14:00.
World Ranking Points
As an official world championship competition, the winning nation of the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup will be awarded 345 world ranking points. Nations will be awarded ranking points based on their finish in the final standings.
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