Taiwan has made the Premier12 baseball competition hosted by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) for the third consecutive edition, the organization announced on Wednesday.
The top 12 teams in the world according to the WBSC/KONAMI Men's Baseball World Ranking make the flagship international baseball event, to be held from Nov. 10 to 24 next year.
Taiwan finished fifth in the world this year, after Japan, Mexico, the US and South Korea.
Photo courtesy of WBSC
The top five, as well as Venezuela, the Netherlands, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are all appearing for the third time.
Australia at No. 11 has made it for a second edition, while No. 10 Panama is to appear for the first time, the WBSC said.
This is the third edition of the competition, after the first in 2015 won by South Korea, and the second in 2019 won by Japan.
Photo: Taipei Times
Taiwan was a host country in both previous editions, and has again been tapped to host part of next year’s competition.
The 12 teams are to be split into two groups for round-robin play, after which the top two from each group are to move on to the Super Round, WBSC said.
The top two teams from that round will then play in the championship game, as the other two play in a bronze medal match.
Taiwan is to host Group B from Nov. 14 to 18, with the opening game to be played at Nagoya Dome in Japan on Nov. 13.
An as-yet unidentified location in the Americas is to host Group A.
The Super Round is to take place in Tokyo Dome from Nov. 21 to 23.
Taiwan failed to make the Super Round in 2015 after finishing ninth. In 2019, which had three groups in the first round, Taiwan advanced after finishing second in its group and placed fifth in the Super Round.
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