By Julian Guilarte
World Baseball Network
Four teams from the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Asia sector will participate in the U-23 Baseball World Cup.
Japan, Chinese Taipei, and South Korea will represent Asia in the World Baseball Softball Confederation U-23 Baseball World Cup event. China will host the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup from Sept. 6-15, 2024, at the Shaoxing Baseball and Softball Sports Culture Center in Hangzhou, China.
The Shaoxing Baseball and Softball Culture Center also hosted the 19th Asian Games during late September until early October.
Other teams that have qualified for the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup include Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Great Britain, Australia, and China.
The WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup qualifier from Africa will be determined in February 2024. The participating nations and location have yet to be announced.
Colombia went 6-0 and beat Nicaragua 1-0 in the gold medal game of the U-23 Baseball World Cup PANAM qualifier. Venezuela beat Puerto Rico 7-4 in the bronze medal game of the U-23 Baseball World Cup PANAM qualifier. Puerto Rico finished fourth and was 3-2. Puerto Rico had the total quality balance, run differential, and head-to-head tiebreakers over Cuba and Panama.
Australia swept Guam in a best two-out-of-three series with a 15-2 and a 1-0 win in the U-23 Baseball World Cup Oceania qualifier.
The Netherlands went 5-0 and beat Great Britain 23-5 in the final of the U-23 Baseball World Cup European qualifier.
The WBSC updated its World Baseball Rankings on December 18. The 2023 Asian Baseball Championship helped Pakistan, Palestine, Hong Kong, and the Philippines move up in the rankings. Pakistan saw the biggest jump increasing their ranking 11 spots from 49 to 38. Palestine went up nine spots from 55 to 46. Hong Kong went up five sports from 37 to 32. The Philippines moved up four spots from 32 to 28.
