Post date: Jun 02, 2016 10:34:7 PM

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The World Baseball Softball Confederation today announced the official tournament schedule of the 2016 Women’s Softball World Championship that will take place in Surrey, Canada, from 15-24 July.

The 15th edition of the women’s flagship event will showcase a record total of 124 international games:

• • 45 Opening Round games

  • 45 Second Round games

  • 17 Placement Playoff games

  • 17 Championship Playoff games

Nations have been divided into eight pools of four to compete in a preliminary round-robin. Team will then be allocated to one of eight sections of four in a fresh second round-robin based of their finish in the preliminary round-robin.  The top two teams from each section will advance to the Championship Double page system.

Teams finishing third and fourth in pool play will be placed in a placement pool and play in a double page systems to determine position 9-16. Remaining teams in each pool advance to a Double Page placement pool for position 17 -31.

Pool A: Japan, Venezuela, France;

Pool B: USA, Brazil, Austria, Israel;

Pool C: Australia, Mexico, Switzerland, Serbia;

Pool D: Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Uganda;

Pool E: Chinese Taipei, Puerto Rico, India, Ecuador;

Pool F: Netherlands, Czech Republic, Philippines, Pakistan;

Pool G: China, Cuba, Guatemala, Greece;

Pool H: New Zealand, Italy, Kenya, Peru.

The participating nations in the WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship represent a global reach that spans across all regions – Africa, Asia, Europe, Central-, North- and South America, and Oceania.

All 31 participating National Teams will compete on Opening Day, with action opening on Friday, 15 July at 08:30 local time.

(See Official Schedule)

Opening ceremonies will begin at 18:30 at the main competition field, which will be followed by Canada meeting Great Britain in front of the home crowd.

The gold medal game will take centre stage on 24 July at 18:00, and will be preceded by the bronze medal match at 13:00.

Stepping onto the women’s softball world stage for the first time are Brazil, Ecuador, India, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, Pakistan, Peru, Serbia, Switzerland and Uganda.

The Women’s National Team of Japan will head to Surrey as the two-time defending world champions, capturing gold medals in Haarlem (NED) in 2014 and Whitehorse (CAN) in 2012.

The United States – the Eagles – have won nine total women’s world championships and took home the silver medal in 2012 and 2014.

Oceania’s Australia – the Aussie Spirit – claimed the bronze medal in Whitehorse and Haarlem.

Host Canada is expected to perform well after their gold-medal win at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.

The WBSC has a full list of official events on the calendar that span from July to October which include the Women’s Softball World Championship in Surrey, Canada, the U-19 Men’s Softball World Championship in Midland, USA, the U-15 Men’s Baseball World Cup in Iwaki, Japan, the Women’s Baseball World Cup in Gijang City, Korea, and the U-23 Baseball World Cup in Monterrey, Mexico.