|
Baseball
legend and home run king Sadaharu Oh performed a "ceremonial
first swing" to officially open the first-ever 21U Baseball
World Cup.
TAICHUNG,
Taiwan -- The six National Team finalists continuing on to the next
stage -- the Super Round Robin -- of the inaugural WBSC Under-21
Baseball World Cup at Intercontinental Stadium have been determined
after five days of competition, which is being televised in key markets
and globally via online platforms. (See Photos.)
Baseball
legend and home run king Sadaharu
Oh performed a "ceremonial first swing"
last Friday to officially open the first-ever U21 Baseball World Cup,
which includes players representing their countries from such top
professional leagues as the Australian Baseball League, Chinese
Professional Baseball League, Korea Baseball Organization, Mexican
Baseball League (LMB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
The
successful launch of baseball's newest international event highlights
the strong and growing appeal -- and commercial revenues and returns --
that baseball and softball bring for broadcasters, by combining
dramatic displays of on-field action and athleticism with the
atmosphere, engagement and excitement of fans in the stands.
Following
25 opening round contests, the 11-nation U21 world championship sees
Australia, host Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, Japan, Nicaragua and
South Korea advance to compete in the three-day Super Round Robin,
with the top two finishers in the standings meeting Sunday for the
honour of being crowned the first-ever U21 world champion. (See Full Results and Schedule.)
Chinese
Taipei, South Korea and the Czech Republic advance from Group A and
will now be matched up in the Super Round Robin against the three best
-- Japan, Nicaragua and Australia -- from Group B. Both Chinese Taipei
and Japan finished the preliminary round robin with undefeated records
to lead their respective groups.
The
spread of nations advancing to the Super Round Robin represent a
footprint that spans across four continents, including the Americas,
Asia, Europe and Oceania. World No. 25 New Zealand was three outs away
from advancing to the Super Round Robin, but could not close the door
on No. 8 South Korea Tuesday night, dropping the contest 4-1, which
opened the door for Czech Republic to advance.
The
opening round also featured a rivalry match-up between Chinese Taipei
and South Korea -- an emotional contest that was won by the host nation
in front of more than 10,000 energetic and chanting fans (see Vine clip.). The
electric in-stadium atmosphere produced was similar to that of the
Chinese Taipei versus South Korea gold medal contest of the Asian Games
in Incheon South Korea, where the host nation captured the gold.
Chinese
Taipei's U21 roster features film
actor Yu-Ning Tsao, who had a smashing debut performance in the hit
baseball film, "Kano",
which was released this February in Taiwan and has been featured in
theatres internationally. The actor/player was also nominated for
Rookie Actor of the Year in the Golden Horse Award (Taiwanese version
of Academy Award).
Further
excitement and fan-following has surrounded the U21 Baseball World Cup
as it is the final global competition before announcing the twelve
qualified teams for "The Premier 12",
the new flagship, pro-player international baseball tournament that
will be launched next year and will feature the world's Top 12 ranked
nations and award US$ multi-millions in prize money.
No.
15 Australia is trying to make a last minute push in Taichung to bypass
No. 12 Panama and No. 13 Mexico to become a "Premier 12" nation.
Broadcast
Coverage and Global Streaming
Thirty-five
of the forty-three U21 Baseball World Cup contests are being produced
and televised nationally across Taiwan via Videoland, which reaches
nearly 60% of all Taiwan households, and across the Americas by AYM Sports'
cable networks and online platforms, which have a potential broadcast
reach of more than 85
million households and online/mobile users. Coverage of
the U21 Baseball World Cup will be made available globally via AYM
Sports' online pay-per-view platform, internetv.tv.
J-Sports,
one of the largest sports TV networks in Japan, with a platform
reaching out to 7
million households, will broadcast all matches
featuring No. 2 Samurai Japan -- whose U21 roster is made up of
mostly young NPB stars. Japan will take over the No. 1 ranking in
the world from USA, if Japan puts in a gold- or
silver-medal-performance.
WBSC
officials indicate that the broadcast footprint for WBSC-sanctioned
world and international events is ever-expanding and taking the
bat-and-ball sports to new markets and attracting more women and young
people into the sport, which serves to boost National Federation
grassroots training and competition programs.
Classification
Round
Italy, Mexico,
Netherlands, New Zealand and Venezuela will be grouped together and
continue play to determine the 7-11th place classification.
|
