The boxing tournament of the 2015 Pacific Games starts today, as boxers from the Oceania region will compete in this prestigious multi-sport event held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Pacific Games will be a historic milestone for women boxers, as they will compete in the boxing event for the very first time in history of the Games.
AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu said: “This is another step forward for the development of women’s boxing in this part of the world and a historic moment for AIBA. Women’s boxing is now taking place in every continent and I’m confident this competition will continue to showcase the best of men and women boxing in Oceania.”
The key moment for women in boxing came when it was added to the London 2012 Olympic Games programme. Since 2012, women’s boxing has been featured at other multi-sport events, like the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, and at the recent 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.
AIBA Women’s Junior-Youth World Boxing Championships Taipei 2015
“We have great nations with true boxing heritage participating in Port Moresby and I am expecting top-notch boxing performances, especially from the teams of Tahiti, New Caledonia and Nauru, who dominated largely the medal count in in the latest edition of the Games”, said Oceania Boxing Confederation President Mr Ted Tanner.
Women will compete across three weight categories, while the men will fight at 10 different weight classes. The three women’s weight classes added to the program incorporate the 51 kg, 60 kg and 75 kg categories.
The ten men weight classes are: 49 kg, 52 kg, 56 kg, 60 kg, 64 kg, 69 kg, 75 kg, 81 kg, 91 kg and 91+ kg.
The semifinalists take to the ring on Friday, July 17, and the 13 gold medals will be awarded on Saturday, July 18.
Following the terrible earthquake in Nepal last week, a ceremony was staged during the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, to show table tennis’s support to the Nepal Table Tennis Team.
Support was provided from various sources including the ITTF Athletes’ Commission, Continental Federation Presidents, National Associations as well as the United Nations Sport for Development and Peace, and the International Table Tennis Federation.
The main theme of the ceremony was players supporting players.
“We can only imagine how difficult it is, of course, to the team and also to their country” Â Â, said Vladimir SAMSONOV, Chair of the ITTF Athletes’ Commission. He organized signed shirts from the world’s leading players to be donated to Nepal and received an offer from Belgium’s Jean-Michel SAIVE to conduct a coaching session.
“We are with them in their grief”, added Vladimir SAMSONOV. “You can still feel the sadness in here.
The table tennis world coming together to help Nepal.
Thomas WEIKERT, ITTF President, having already sought out the Nepalese earlier in the week, again expressed the condolences of the entire ITTF family, and stated his commitment to personally join them for the opening of the UNOSDP Project in November this year.
Additionally, the Presidents of all six Continental Federations – CAI Zhenhua (Asia), Khaled EL-SALHY (Africa), Ronald KRAMER (Europe), Juan VILA (Latin America), Tony KIESENHOFER (North America), and James MORRIS (Oceania) – agreed to donate a combined sum of US$ 10,000 to help with relief of Nepalese players and their families.
The International Table Tennis Federation and UNOSDP are to launch in the November a three year project worth over US$ 100,000 for the development of para table tennis in Nepal.
Young Sam MA, Co-chair of the UN International Working Group on People with Disabilities, himself an International Umpire, umpiring here in Suzhou was there to announce the support.
“We feel deeply sorry for the tragedy in Nepal; I was in Kathmandu last December to prepare a the project,” said Leandro OLVECH, the ITTF Development Director. “What we do today is just a small gesture to show that we’re with them; not only today, but also in the next three years by running a long term project.”
“The heart of the table tennis family is with the Nepalese inhabitants”, added Leandro OLVECH. “We give a small gesture and we will see what happens; we pray there are not so many deaths and everything will be fine; I’ve spoke to the coach and some table tennis players, thankfully, no one in their family was hurt.
“I would like to thank everyone from my heart, it’s almost like a dream to get some gifts and support from former champions and ITTF members”, said Shrestha NABITA, aged 23, a Nepalese female player. “It’s great that we can meet like this; you are taking care of our country, there is humanity in the International Table Tennis Federation.”
Notably, leading players from China, Germany, Korea, Japan, Sweden, Austria, Nigeria and Peru attended the ceremony as did ITTF Executive Committee members, SHI Zhihao, Masahiro MAEHARA and Petra SORLING,
China’s WANG Liqin, three times Men’s Singles World champion, and the Chinese Table Tennis Association were all on hand to present signed national team shirts from many past and present world champions, while representing Korea, Yang HAEUN, recently crowned World Mixed Doubles Champion was personally present to provide a signed training shirt to the Nepalese team.
Many other players also showed solidarity with the Nepalese including the Slovak Republic’s Para player Alena KANOVA, and Germany’s Petrissa SOLJA.
World governing body WBSC announced today a landmark agreement that awards Tainan City, Chinese Taipei the hosting rights of the next three editions (2015, 2017, 2019) of the WBSC Under-12 Baseball World Cup, which is the only international baseball tournament in this age group (11-12 years old) to feature National Teams (along with the U12 World Cup continental qualifiers), and is the only world championship tournament in all of sports at this age level.
Cuba at the Inaugural 2011 U12 Baseball World Cup. WBSC
WBSC also revealed the qualified nations and dates for the 2015 U18 and U12 Baseball World Cups — the highest and most elite competition platforms for baseball players in these age groups.
WBSC leadership hailed the latest breakthrough agreement on the U12 World Cup, which follows last week’s major announcements on WBSC’s new flagship professional world championship — Premier 12™ — as key indicators that baseball and softball’s National Team international competitions, which are exclusive to WBSC and its Members, continue to gain a foothold among athletes, hosts, fans, broadcasters and sponsors in the sporting world’s highly competitive marketplace.
While traditionally awarding each edition of the Baseball World Cup to new host countries, WBSC leaders cited the sustainability, reduced costs and streamlined operational planning in awarding Tainan the next three editions of the U12 World Cup, which will also maximise returns and the legacy for the host city, WBSC leaders said.
The new approach, specific to the WBSC U12 World Cup, which WBSC leaders regard as having “tremendous potential to mature into one of the baseball’s biggest international showcases”, will present new opportunities to enhance and tailor long-term partnerships and sponsorship strategies for all concerned stakeholders, WBSC officials highlighted.
2015 WBSC U18 Baseball World Cup XXVII — Japan
It was also announced that the 2015 WBSC U18 World Cup will be staged from 28 August – 06 September, with the “Mecca of Japanese Baseball” — historic Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya built in 1924 — serving as an iconic backdrop for the world’s best 18-year-old baseball players and future superstars.
KOR vs USA at the 2013 U12 Baseball World Cup.WBSC
Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) is adjusting the Hanshin Tigers’ home schedule at the legendary 47,000-seat (Hanshin) Koshien Stadium to accommodate and further add to the prestige of the WBSC U18 Baseball World Cup — and to honour the best young baseball players in the world and help drive a magical in-stadium fan-experience.
The nations heading to Koshien Stadium have been finalised after the first-ever U18 World Cup continental qualifiers in Africa (Mera, Kenya) and Oceania (Auckland, New Zealand) concluded this past weekend. The historic qualifiers were regarded by WBSC leadership as “key breakthroughs in baseball/softball’s global evolution that unite the U18 Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania continental championships”.
The U18 World Cup in Japan will feature seven out of the Top 10 nations in the world, and eleven out of the Top 20, making for one of the most competitive U18 World Cups on record.
The powerful bloc of U18 World Cup qualified nations represents a global footprint that spans across the entire western hemisphere, Africa, Asia, Central and Southern Europe, and Oceania:
Americas (North-, Central- and South America, and the Caribbean): Two-time defending U18 World Champions No. 2 USA, No. 3 Cuba, No. 7 Canada, No. 12 Mexico and No. 16 Brazil.
Africa: No. 29 South Africa
Asia: No. 1 Japan, No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No. 8 South Korea
Europe: No. 11 Italy and No. 20 Czech Republic
Oceania: No. 14 Australia
2015 WBSC U18 Baseball World Cup
WBSC officials are confident the 2015 U18 World Cup’s broadcast and online/mobile reach will surpass the record broadcast numbers of its 2013 U18 World Cup predecessor — which had a potential broadcast reach of 144 million homes and potential online/mobile reach of 20 million, based on reports furnished by leading media rights agency and WBSC broadcast partner MP & Silva. WBSC leaders base forecasts on the strength of the 2015 U18 World Cup nations, as well as the current positive audience growth trends for international baseball properties that feature WBSC’s Members’ National Teams.
U18 Global launching pad for future stars
The biennial U18 world championship showcase has featured some of the biggest names in the sport, such as Canada’s Brett Lawrie, Japan’s Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani, South Korea’s Shin-soo Choo, Cuba’s Yasiel Puig and Aroldis Chapman, and USA’s Justin Upton and Buster Posey, among countless others. The most recent generation of rising stars include Cuba’s Jorge Soler, USA’s Francisco Lindor and Canada’s Dalton Pompey, all of whom played at the 2010 U18 Baseball World Cup in Thunder Bay, Canada (which will return as host for the 2017 WBSC U18 Baseball World Cup).
World Baseball Softball Confederation
2015 WBSC U12 Baseball World Cup III — Nations and Dates
The third edition of the U12 Baseball World Cup, which will showcase the best 12-year-old baseball players in the world, will take place from 24 July to 2 August in Tainan City, with the United States, “Team USA”, entering as the defending U12 World Champions.
The twelve nations qualified for 2015 U12 Baseball World Cup represent a global expansion that includes a first-ever representative from Oceania:
Americas: No. 2 USA, No. 3 Cuba, No. 10 Venezuela, No. 12 Mexico, No. 13 Panama and No. 16 Nicaragua Asia: No. 1 Japan, No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No. 8 South Korea Europe: No. 27 France and No. 32 Russia Oceania: No. 14 Australia
Added excitement will surround this year’s U18 and U12 World Cups, which kick-off the 4-year world rankings cycle — as points earned from these events will be the first to go toward the world rankings that will eventually determine the qualified nations for the 2019 Premier 12™ Pro Baseball World Championship.
Logos, groupings and tournament schedules for the U18 and U12 Baseball World Cups will be unveiled in future announcements.
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