The last baseball qualifying tournament for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics changed headquarters and instead of disputed in Taiwan will be held in Mexico, announced Thursday the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC).
According to the body, the decision was made due to the new sanitary restrictions imposed by the Taiwanese government due to an increase in the case of infections by COVID-19. Travelers who do not have resident visas will not be able to enter the island until June 18. The tournament was scheduled to kick off a couple of days earlier at the Taichung Intercontinental Stadium.
The dates and the new headquarters in Mexico will be announced later.
“The WBSC and the international baseball community would like to thank our great host Mexico for hosting this important tournament in such a short time,” said body president Riccardo Fraccari.
Neither the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sports (Conade), chaired by Ana Gabriela Guevara, nor the Mexican federal government have yet announced the acceptance of the headquarters.
So far three teams have won their right to participate in the qualifier: Taiwan, Australia and the Netherlands. The other countries will be the runner-up and third place in the qualifying tournament to be held from May 31 to June 5 in Florida. 8 teams participate in the Americas tournament: United States, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua in Group A, with Canada, Colombia, Cuba and Venezuela in Group B.
Mexico has already got its ticket to Tokyo 2020in both baseball and softball.