Italy to be Main Host Country for 2009 Baseball World Cup
April
15th, 2008- A press conference was held today in Rome, Italy,
delineating the planned format for the 2009 Baseball World Cup. IBAF's
Secretary General John Ostermeyer said, "I am confident this World Cup
will be remembered as a very important step towards the reinstatement
of baseball in the Olympic program. For the first time, IBAF kept
control of the tournament and will run it in partnership with 7
different federations. Italy is the main country. I have great respect
for the achievements Italian sport has had. As an Australian, I am very
proud of the history of my own country's sport achievement, but I am
aware that in this building there have been made historical decisions."
Secretary
General of the Italian NOC Raffaele Pagnozzi was in Bejing: "I liked
IBAF President Harvey Schiller's presentation. I can say that this time
baseball has a solid project and this World Cup format will lead
directly to Copenhagen in the Fall of 2009. My idea is that baseball
has a real chance this time, while in Turin I felt a general mood of
sadness around the International Federation."
Plan for tournament format: September 9-27, 2009
Source: ibaf.tv
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