The XI Women' s World Championship is currently taking place here, and the XII Men' s World Championship is scheduled for 2009 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada).

 

The dates for next year' s Jr. Women' s World Championship are currently being finalized.  The 2008 Jr. Men' s World Championship will be held from June 21^st to 29^th.

 

Kutno and Whitehorse were approved by the ISF' s Executive Council during a meeting here which also produced a Strategic Task Force that is going to be formed, the ISF President said.

 

"This is obviously an important time for softball," Mr. Porter said.  "Not only with our 2006 world championship going on and planning continuing for those of the next few years, but overall in light of our Olympic status."

 

The ISF President stated that the aim of the Task Force will be to regain Olympic status in 2009, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) votes during its Session on the programme for the 2016 Summer Games.  The make-up of the group, Mr. Porter said, will be ISF and national softball federation officials, IOC Members, National Olympic Committee representatives, and individuals from the corporate, government, and media sectors.  Already, three IOC Members have been in attendance during the current world championship ¨C Lambis Nikolaou (IOC Vice President), Alex Gilady (Israel), and C.K. Wu (Chinese Taipei).

 

"We are having a successful tournament thus far here in Beijing,"  Mr. Porter said, "but while we¡¯re optimistic that the 2008 Games here will go just as well if not better, we need to ensure the future of our sport for the millions of young athletes around the world who are playing our sport with the dream of competing in the Olympics.  This new Strategic Task Force will go a long way toward helping us achieve that goal."

 

Italy, the Netherlands, and Russia have already qualified for next year¡¯s Jr. Women' s World Championship, and Poland gets an automatic berth as the host country.  The II Pan American Softball Championship for Girls in Puerto Rico two-and-a-half months from now (November 8-18) will qualify five teams from the Americas.  Following additional qualification, a maximum number of 16 teams will compete in 2007 in Poland, to also include Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

 

 

The ISF is the world governing body of the sport as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).  Softball (women's fast pitch) made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.  There are 130 member  federations in the ISF and millions of participants in the sport worldwide.

 

MEDIA: For more information, please contact ISF Director of Communications Bruce Wawrzyniak at brucew@internationalsoftball.com or +13911990813 (China cell).