Snoopy® joins WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup 2017 as Promoting Ambassador in Taiwan
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TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The World Baseball Softball Confederation today revealed theÂ
official competition schedule for the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup® 2017 Tainan, at a press conference in Taiwan's capital, Taipei.
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The IV WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup will be contested over 50 games and three rounds: Opening Round (Group Stage), Super Round and World Championship Medal Round.
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The global tournament -- which will be staged in Tainan, Taiwan, from 28 July to 6 August -- is the highest-level of competition for 11- and 12-year-old baseball players.
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"The U-12 Baseball World Cup represents the first opportunity for top young players in our sport to be named to the National Team, to wear their nation's jersey and play for a world championship," said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. "Over these 50 games in Tainan, we will see which nation's young baseball players and National Team youth programme is the strongest."
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It was also announced that world-famous PEANUTS comic strip icon, Snoopy, will join the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup line-up as the Promoting Ambassador in Taiwan. Snoopy and the Peanuts characters, such as Charlie Brown, Lucy and Woodstock, will be incorporated into the official look/venue dressing of the U-12 Baseball World Cup 2017 and have an in-stadium presence for fan- and social media engagement.
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WBSC also recently unveiled the U-12 Baseball World Cup 2017Â
promotional video, which has been viewed over half a million times since its release.
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TheÂ
official microsite of the U-12 Baseball World Cup 2017 has been made available at wbsc.org across five languages, including English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Traditional Chinese.
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Baseball is the only team sport that currently stages a World Cup for athletes as young as the U-12 age category.
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Opening Day
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South Africa -- the continent's top baseball nation -- and current Americas U-12 champions Mexico will officially open the U-12 World Baseball Cup 2017.
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The U-12 champions of Asia, Japan, will face European qualifiers Czech Republic.
Oceania U-12 champions Australia will take on two-time defending U-12 world champions United States.
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Wild card Panama will meet Asian qualifiers Korea, while European U-12 champions Germany will open against U-12 Baseball World Cup 2015 bronze medallists Nicaragua.
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Following the Opening Ceremonies at Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium, host nation Chinese Taipei, the 2015 runners-up, will meet Americas qualifiers Brazil.
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Super Round
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The top three finishers from Group A will battle the top three finishers from Group B in a three-day Super Round. A Consolation Round will be staged for 7th to 12th Place.
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World Championship Medal Round
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The top two U-12 National Teams following the Super Round will meet For the Title of World Champion on Sunday, 6 August, at 18:30 at Tainan Municipal Stadium. The 3rd/4th Place Bronze Medal Match will be staged at 14:00.
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World Ranking Points
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As an official world championship competition, the winning nation of the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup will be awarded 345 world ranking points. Nations will be awarded ranking points based on their finish in the final standings.
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