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Team Australia confirmed for Premier12

Baseball Victoria
20 December 2018

Team Australia's first chance at Olympic qualification will come at the 2019 Premier12, after the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) confirmed Australia's place in the tournament overnight.

Australia must finish above Chinese Taipei and South Korea at the 2019 Premier12 to qualify for the Tokyo2020 Olympic Games.

The Premier12 is the world's premier international baseball tournament, where the top 12 ranked teams compete across four countries, with the championship game taking place in Tokyo on 17 November 2019.

This is the first time Australia - currently ranked seventh - will compete at the Premier12, after missing out on the event's first iteration in 2015.

Team Australia General Manager Glenn Williams sees this as a crucial opportunity to enhance Australia's international reputation.

“After narrowly missing out on a spot in the 2015 edition, there has been a concerted effort to ensuring Australia would represented in 2019,” Williams said.

“A lot of hard work across the entire national team program has put us in this position and it is an honour to be confirmed in the event.

"We have an opportunity to secure Olympic qualification at the Premier12, and we will be doing everything in our power to get an Australian team to Tokyo2020."

The Premier12 will begin on 2 November  2019, with the 12 national teams drawn into three groups of four to start the global tournament, with Chinese Taipei, Korea and Mexico each hosting a group.

South Korea won the inaugural Premier12 tournament in 2015.

WBSC RELEASE

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