The final round of the 2009 Baseball World Cup will be hosted in 16 Italian towns, and Chieti is one of them, to testify to the World the will of rising of the Abruzzo region after the terrible earthquake, also through a sport event of this high international level.

The running World Champion Team is the United States, who defeated Cuba in 2007 after a exciting game ended with the result of 6 to 3. A game, as it is easy to imagine, full of huge political and diplomatic meanings, even more today, in this phase of slow ‘thaw’ of the relationship between the two Countries.

The presence of the Baseball World Cup at the G8 represents the intent to ratify sports, baseball in this case, as a powerful tool for dialogue, and a wish that the diplomatic relationships could imitate the example of sport of an open and loyal confrontation between the Nations.

SaveOlympicBaseball.org locates its head office in Dakota City, Nebraska U.S.A.; and is currently operating satellite offices in Melbourne, Australia; Vienna, Austria; Gent, Belgium; Brno, Czech Republic; Paris, France; Almaty; Kazakhstan; and Moscow, Russia. SaveOlympicBaseball.org is headed up by Managing Director; Bob Protexter, an international baseball veteran with more than two decades of service to the sport having traveled to over twenty countries world-wide spanning from Latin America to Europe to the Far East. Protexter’s Olympic experiences include working as a Russian translator at the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games in 2002. Protexter is also the Founder and President of Russian International Baseball and is the Owner and Operator of Total Baseball Development.

Baseball’s Olympic Predicament:

In 2005 baseball was voted out of the Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Baseball was the first sport to be voted out of the Olympic Games since 1936. In 2008 baseball was played for the last time in the Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Baseball was originally voted into the Olympic Games as a medal sport in 1986 by the IOC. In 1992 baseball was first played in the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. In 2009 baseball is seeking reinstatement and inclusion, once again, into the Olympic sports programme by lobbying and appealing to the IOC. If baseball is voted back into the Olympics by the IOC this year then the sport will once again begin competing in the Olympics in 2016.

Decision Makers:

The IOC Executive Board, founded in 1921, consists of the IOC President Count Jacques Rogge, four Vice-Presidents, and ten additional members to equal fifteen members total. Rogge overseas the Executive Board as they manage the affairs of the IOC, assume the ultimate responsibility for the administration of the IOC, and conduct the procedure for acceptance and selection of candidatures for the organisation of the Olympic Games. Rogge was born in Gent, Belgium, and is an Orthopaedic surgeon, but spent years as a sportsman himself in Yachting competitions in the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, Munich in 1972, and Montreal in 1976, while also competing as a rugby player on the national Belgian team. The Executive Board last met in Lausanne, Switzerland on June 15 and 16 where the four candidate host cities for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games gave technical briefings to ninety-three of the one hundred seven members of the International Olympic Committee. Those cities are Chicago (USA), Tokyo (Japan), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Madrid (Spain). As well the seven sports seeking to join the Olympic programme displayed their vision for inclusion in the Olympic Games in a series of individual presentations. Only two Olympic programme slots are available, and those two chosen sports will next appear at the 2016 Games. The IOC Executive Board will meet next in Berlin, Germany on August 13 and 14. At that time the Executive Board primary focuses will be which two of the seven candidate sports will be recommended for acceptance in the Olympic sports programme. The IOC Session, scheduled in conjunction with the Olympic Congress, will be in Copenhagen, Denmark on October 1 and 2 where the final voting process will take place, and a final decision will be made for those two sports.

Why baseball in the Olympics is important:

In 1986 baseball was voted into the Olympic Games by the IOC. In that year there were sixty countries listed as having ‘National Baseball Federations’ with memberships in the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) - (www.ibaf.org). The IBAF was founded in 1938 and is a non-governmental organisation recognised by the IOC as administering men’s and women’s baseball at the world level. An individual country’s ‘National Baseball Federation’ is that nation’s official governing body for the sport, and is responsible for growing, advancing, and developing that country’s baseball. Following this positive IOC vote in 1986 for baseball in the Olympic Games, the sport of baseball started immediately to grow and prosper in many, many countries. Now in 2009 the IBAF lists more than one hundred twenty-five countries as having ‘National Baseball Federations’. The Olympic Movement is directly responsible for this explosion and increased popularity of baseball across the globe. Countries all over the world have started new baseball programs from very humble beginnings in the last twenty years. Now in 2009 that progress is severely threatened unless baseball is reinstated back into the Olympic Games. Many countries rely simply on Olympic recognition to merely sustain and maintain their baseball programs. Many baseball burgeoning countries are now in perilous danger of losing their programs without this Olympic recognition.

The work of the International Baseball Federation (www.ibaf.org):

The IBAF is working diligently day and night on returning baseball back into the Olympic Games as part of what they call a ‘New Dynamic Direction’ for the sport. ‘Mission Critical’ is another term deemed by the IBAF for their project of inclusion for the sport of baseball once again to the Olympic programme. The group presentation of the IBAF to the IOC Executive Board in June was a success, and their work continues. As well the IBAF has repeatedly encouraged people in all parts of the globe to write letters and make calls to IOC members in support of baseball. The IBAF also frequently states that it is very important for people to constantly update IOC members about the new developments of baseball around the world, especially on the grassroots level.

Additional efforts of the International Baseball Federation (www.ibaf.org):

The IBAF is covering every detail with things such as creating a partnership with Pitch In For Baseball (www.pitchinforbaseball.org) to provide equipment for youth groups around the world. Pitch In For Baseball is a nonprofit organization that provides one of the world’s leading equipment donation services, and has collected and redistributed baseball equipment and uniforms to underserved children in more than 50 countries. Their mission is to help kids and make friends all over the world by sharing the great game of baseball. The IBAF has even gone to the lengths of sending copies of the book ‘A Glove of Their Own’ (www.agloveoftheirown.com) to key members of the International Olympic Committee. ‘A Glove of Their Own’ is an award winning book that illustrates and tells a story of sandlot kids who inspire an adult to share in their baseball and life experiences. Bob Salomon, one of the book’s creators along with authors Debbie Moldovan, Keri Conkling, and Lisa Funari-Willever share in the book’s message of generosity by donating proceeds from each book sold to various nonprofit organizations. The IBAF likes the principles of the book as an example of how baseball can again be a social unifier and teach values bigger than the game itself. That is one of the key foundations of the IBAF's pitch to be reinstated to the Olympic programme in 2016; that it is a game for all. IBAF President Dr. Harvey Schiller states that: "Baseball is a game that teaches teamwork, how to overcome adversity and discipline, and was the game that broke the color barrier in sport, and we thought that this book was a perfect way to help explain how those simple ideals are conveyed through the sport. The lessons in the book can be understood by anyone and adapted to any of the lessons we learn in life, and really captures why baseball is so much a game for all,"

SaveOlympicBaseball.org is answering the call for the request of world-wide participation by having the primary purpose of showing people around the world how they can partake in the global grassroots campaign that is seeking baseball’s inclusion, once again, into the Olympic programme. SaveOlympicBaseball.org fulfills this purpose by providing public listings of contact names and mailing addresses of International Olympic Committee members enabling supporters to directly voice their enthusiasm through letters supporting baseball’s return to the Summer Olympic Games.

SaveOlympicBaseball.org encourages teams, coaches, administrators, parents, and fans world-wide to write letters and postcards supporting Olympic baseball, and then to send those letters and postcards to members of the IOC Executive Board and to the IOC members themselves as well. Thank you for writing letters in support of baseball in the Olympics. Your voice matters.

You can see the results on competition.baseballeurope.com/2009/brno/schedule.php or www.baseball.cz/modules.php.

The Czech TV will live broadcast one game per day.

Tournament is being played on two fields. One of them is the City Baseball Stadium which belongs to Draci Brno, another one is Kraví hora where Technika Brno playes. Both teams are in the top of our Extra League and we await their fight for becoming the Czech Champions.

The ceremonious pitch will be done by Brno mayor Mr. Roman Onderka. Support of city of Brno and South Moravia region is the key point in the organization of European Championship.

On Sunday a game between two teams of Tiraspol completed the first round of Moldova baseball championship 2009. Already no one was surprised that the Tiraspol’ youth can make a serious fight to the strongest Moldavian teams. And this time «Kvint» with great difficulty in the extra innings beat “KVINT-SDIUSOR4” 16:9.

The first time of Moldavian baseball history the leader in National Championship is not Tiraspol team - it is “BIVOL” (Cojusna).

Championship of Moldova playing in two terms (Spring/summer and autumn), and thus it passed the equator. And now it is possible to made preliminary conclusions

This year in first round “Kvint” lost to «Bivol», clearly complicating a possibility to win this year regular championship. However, given the experience of this team, there is every reason to think that he is quite able to take revenge in the second circle. Moreover, the total number of scored and earned runs so far in favor of «KVINT».

If you look at the tournament table, statistic of teams, of players at www.baseballmoldova.com for all played games and carefully examine the results of the first round of games, you can make interesting conclusions. Thus, «KVINT» for that part of the tournament has scored more runs than «Bivol». In doing so, they significantly ahead of “BIVOL” in the standing table of recorded points.

No less interesting statistics of teams, located at the bottom of the tournament table. This is especially true for teams «Pirates», which has one of the best team batting average (main criterion for a baseball game), players that make up almost half the top ten hitters of championship 2009, taking now last place, not winning any single victory. Remarkably, that many «Pirates» games have been, when their performance at the hitting were almost twice as better than those of opponents, and they lost. If this will have minimized their errors in the defense, they had a chance to fight for the highest place in the championship.

We already wrote about how to increase playing skills youth team «Kvint - SDIUSOR4». Average age of players is 15 years old. It is on all the guys have stepped forward, which immediately affected the results. And I think that fourth place after the first round obviously not the limit of dreams for players and coaches this team, and they will try to enter the second circle in the top three prize.

Comment the result of the first round championship of manager of «Bivol» Mr.Oleg Satanovsky. Here's what he said: «The results of the first round is very happy for me. Till now I could not assume that we can pass it without a single defeat. Moreover beat «Kvint» with knockout. It so happened that the game with them we win much easier than with the youth team of Tiraspol (KVINT-SDIUSOR4). Suffice it to say that «Kvint - SDIUSOR4» we won in the third extra-inning. Of course, those games are interesting, they are pleased to remember, they were tempered in nature, but it is better to do without this kind of straining ».

Replying to a question about the possible developments in the second round, Oleg Satanovsky said that he don’t want to make forecasting. «If we lose in the first round to «KVINT» with knockout, I would be confident that win in next round is impossible. Now, winning in the knockout, I have no confidence that they will not beat us with the same method», - he said.

Obviously, the goal of «Bivol» - to win all remaining games and the championship at least not lose «KVINT» with a large runs. This will ensure the team Champion title.

According to the Vice-President of baseball Federation of the Republic of Moldova Andrei Butnari, first round championship takes place in Moldova interesting than last years, a lot of games with a fantasy plays. While games often ended in knockout, but this games are always playing with “big inning “ when in the middle or end of the game, the team earned the maximum runs in one attack. This means that most of teams don’t have relievers, and closer pitchers.

I would like to see an autumn round the same rhythm and intrigue. The second round will start in end of August.

Standing after 1st round of Moldova baseball Championship 2009.

STANDING IN MOLDOVA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2009 ( AFTER 1ST ROUND)

TEAM Games Wins Lost POINTS RUNS SCORED RUNS EARNED

1 Bivol 5 5 0 10 62 25

2 Kvint 5 4 1 9 82 44

3 Yastreby 5 3 2 8 67 59

4 KVINT-SDIUSHOR4 5 2 3 7 51 53

5 Abator 5 1 4 6 42 71

6 Pirates 5 0 5 5 52 104

TOP-10 HITTER IN MOLDOVA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2009 ( AFTER 1ST ROUND)

Players AVR SLG Team

1 Kovalenko Oleg 591 1000 Kvint

2 Leonov Alexei 524 667 Bivol

3 Marleanu Andrei 500 722 Pirates

4 Marinchuk Alexandr 480 640 Kvint

5 Balan Anatolii 476 1000 Bivol

6 Didur Iurii 474 579 Kvint

7 Neiman Maxim 467 667 Kvint

8 Boylan Patrik 458 583 Pirates

9 Butnari Andrei 455 727 Pirates

10 Vohmianin Vladimir 412 412 Pirates

On Saturday 27, just one game was officially considered to be complete. The game between South Moravia and South-West Bohemia ended 11:0 and meant that South Moravia had advanced direct to final game and South-West Bohemia could have gone home.

On Sunday 28, another semifinal game was played. North Moravia defeated Prague 7:2 and advanced to final game. Final game between North Moravia and South Moravia was unequal; while South Moravia scored ten times, North Moravia even not once. South Moravia ensured its advance to Little League tournament and will represent the Czech Republic in Kutno.

The first day we could watch the game between the Czech Republic seniors and Moscow team. The whole game was very equal but at the end the Czech national team was happier and defeated Moscow 5:4. As we could learn later, these two teams met also in the final game.

The Czech national team lost for the first time the game with Sweden which was played on Friday. Sweden managed to win 11:1 and complicated the way to final game to the Czech team that had to defeated Czech juniors to play final game. On the other hand Moscow defeated all the teams (except CR in the first game) and ensured participation in the final.

Final game was very equal and was decided in the tenth inning. Moscow defeated the Czech Republic seniors 3:2 and become the winner of the tournament. The Czech Republic did not manage to win the tournament for the third time in a row, which would be a historical success.

The whole tournament was considered as a preparation for the World Cup. Two games were live broadcasted by the Czech Television. It was shown that field and facilities are prepared for the TV stuff and all their equipment. Last but not least it is important to mention that the whole tournament was very rainy and organizers had lot to do. They managed to prepare the field without any problems and proved that they are really prepared for the World Cup.

1. Moscow

2. The Czech Republic seniors

3. The Czech Republic juniors

4. Sweden

5. Austria

6. Croatia

See the results:

www.baseball.cz/modules.php=

World Port Tournament: Growth against bad economic tides

Everything is ready for the start of the 12th World Port Tournament, the major international baseball tournament starting on July 2nd in Rotterdam. With a strong field of participants and a record number of sponsors, the tournament promises to be successful, both from a sportive as a commercial perspective. Today Jacques van Steen, President of Rotterdam Baseball, Robert Eenhoorn, Technical Director of the KNBSB, and Rod Delmonico, Coach of the Dutch National Baseball Team, looked forward towards the 2009 World Port Tournament.

Commercial and Organizational optimism

“Looking at the tournament from a commercial and organizational point of view, we are doing very well”, said Jacques van Steen, “almost every company that supported us as commercial partner in 2007 stayed with us. Next to that we have been able to find a big number of new partners for the event.” The organizing committee is right on schedule for the start of the 12th edition of the World Port Tournament. Jacques van Steen: “Ticket sales are doing very well, equaling the sales of the 2007 edition when we had over 60.000 baseball fans and families for the tournament. For this edition we have added a number of new items, which should make the event even more fitting for families.”

Cuba goes for Gold

The first participant to send in the team roster was Cuba. The Cubans obviously have only one thing on their mind, winning the tournament and defending their title. Robert Eenhoorn: “The Cuban selection is a mix of players we have seen in the World Baseball Classic and Olympics and talented youngsters that are being prepared for the Cuban National Team.” USA Baseball has proposed an All Star Team from the Great South League as its representative. Robert Eenhoorn: “USA Baseball has indicated that this team will be a worthy representative for the USA and that they will be able to be competitive for our other participants. Due to the fact that this league, which is being played in six states, is a cradle of talent, we obviously have a lot of confidence in the judgment of USA Baseball.”

Japan, just like in 2007, shows up with a team full of young talent. Remarkable for the Japanese team is the fact that a lot of players from the 2007 roster have now joined professional leagues. We will definitely hear more of the 2009 team in the future. Taiwan, runner-up in 2007, shows up with a team that will participate in the international tournaments that are to be held in the rest of 2009. Robert Eenhoorn: “Both our Asian participants are known for their very organized and well executed baseball. On top of that baseball is the most popular sport in both countries, so they can both select from a very large pool of talented young players. In general I can add that the World Port Tournament is a fantastic tournament, in which a large number of countries would like to participate. This definitely shows from the participants presented today.”

Dutch National Team

The team roster of the Dutch national team will be announced on Monday. National team Coach Rod Delmonico: “There is no doubt that we want to win the tournament. We will participate with a very strong selection. At this point we are busy adding a number of young players to the selection, for whom the World Port Tournament is a great opportunity to prove themselves at the highest level. Playing aggressively, we should definitely be able to create opportunities to win our games. We are looking forward to start the tournament.”

Ticket sales and other information

All information regarding the 12th World Port Tournament can be found at www.worldporttournament.nl

President of CBA officially welcomed all the journalists and introduced himself and present organizers and coaches: Jan Bagin (Eagles Prague, organizer of Prague Baseball Week), Lucie Čubíková (CBA, organizer of World Cup), Arnošt Nesňal (head coach of Czech National Team), Patrick Ahearne (pitching coach).

In the first part of the conference, Jan Bagin and Arnošt Nesňal were talking about the Prague Baseball Week. After that Petr Ditrich’s speech about World Cup 2009 followed.

Journalists asked mainly the ambition of Czech National Team both in Prague Baseball Week and in World Cup, organizing of World Cup and its structure, roster of Czech National Team and also foreign teams.

Prague Baseball Week is the last examination for the Czech National Team before World Cup. Head coach Arnošt Nesňal appointed 33 players, the most of whom will also be in a roster for the Baseball World Cup 2009.

During the tournament all the players will have an opportunity to play because the main aim is to prepare for the World Cup. It would be fine to win the tournament for the third time in a row, which has not managed any team yet.

Roster for Prague Baseball Week:

Baroch Petr (Kotlářka)

Blažek Jan (Kotlářka)

Bokaj Boris (Arrows Ostrava)

Budský Pavel (Draci Brno)

Černík Jakub (Skokani Olomouc)

Červinka Tomáš (Draci Brno)

Drábek Jan (Patriots Liberec)

Drong Martin (Skokani Olomouc)

Gál Jiří (Arrows Ostrava)

Hajtmar Jakub (Draci Brno)

Homolka Jan (Eagles Prague)

Hrušovský Karel (Draci Brno)

Hušek Matěj (Eagles Praha)

Chroust Radim (Draci Brno)

Jelínek Vojtěch (Express Brno)

Jonák Jakub (Eagles Prague)

Jurdzin Michal (Arrows Ostrava)

Kubát Leoš (Express Brno)

Marek Jiří (Draci Brno)

Minařík Petr (Draci Brno)

Mráz Daniel (Technika Brno)

Mráz Eduard (Titans)

Navrátil Aleš (Arrows Ostrava)

Němec Radek (Skokani Olomouc)

Ondráček Michal (Draci Brno)

Petřík Ondřej (Draci Brno)

Polanský Tomáš (Draci Brno)

Procházka Radek (Draci Brno)

Schneider Martin (Draci Brno)

Toufar Jakub (Draci Brno)

Veselý Martin (Draci Brno)

Voják Jakub (Skokani Olomouc)

Zýma Petr (Eagles Prague)

The event will be held at the Courtyard Marriott from Brussels from the 20th to the 22nd of November.

The Courtyard is only 5 km away from Brussels International Airport.

Rooms will be available for the event at a very attractive rate of 75 € per night, breakfast included.

The rooms are doubles and have to be booked by the 20th of October to take advantage of the special rate.

The EBCA already announced some of the speakers for the Convention:

· Derek Johnson, Pitching Coach of Vanderbilt University, 2004 National Pitching Coach of the Year.

· Mauro Mazzotti, Head Coach of both Telemarket Rimini and the Spanish National Team.

· Steve Janssen, Head Coach of Neptunus Rotterdam, one of the top European clubs.

The registration price for the Convention is 50€ and includes the EBCA membership for 2010.