(ATR) The opening round of the WBSC 2018 Women’s Softball World Championship in Chiba, Japan has been extended by rain into Thursday, a previously scheduled rest day.
Seven of the eight teams for the playoff round have been determined after Canada and Italy won on Wednesday to join Japan and Australia in advancing from Group B.
The United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico have booked a place in the playoff round already but the fourth team from Group A will be determined on Thursday. The Netherlands and the Philippines are both playing their final group games and each needs a win to potentially leapfrog Chinese Taipei, which currently holds down the fourth spot having already completed their schedule.
The eight teams who fail to qualify for the playoff round will compete in placement round games.
The playoff and placement round games begin on Friday with the 16th edition of the tournament wrapping up this Sunday with both the bronze medal and championship games.
The premier global softball tournament in the world is the first of five qualifiers for Tokyo 2020. The top finisher in Chiba, not including Japan, will be part of baseball and softball’s return to the Olympics for the first time since Beijing 2008.Japan is automatically qualified as the host country.
Sailing World Championships Decides Olympic Qualifiers
The Sailing World Championships being held in Aarhus, Denmark is the primary qualification event for the sport for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Eight nations – China, France. Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Israel, Slovenia and Spain – booked their spots in the women’s two person dinghy-470 on Wednesday.
In total, 101 places or 40 percent of the total quota in the 10 Olympic sailing disciplines are up for grabs at the Worlds, which began on July 30 and run through this Sunday.
As host, Japan receives an automatic entry into each of the Olympic sailing events in Tokyo.
ITTF Growing Challenge Series
The International Table Tennis Federation is almost doubling the number of Challenge Series events for 2019.
The ITTF announced on Wednesday 17 Challenge Series events for next season, up from nine in 2018. There will be at least one of the events on every continent. Nine of the host cities have never held a Challenge Series event before.
For the first time, the Challenge Series will be divided into two tiers. The top tier, dubbed Challenge Plus, will feature six events that will offer more money, more world ranking points, better playing conditions and TV production.
The Challenge Series is the tour below the premier ITTF World Tour and is designed to give players around the world the opportunity to hone their skills and take the next step to the top flight.
"These 17 events added to our 13 ITTF World Tour events means that we have 30 tour events in 2019, which provides our players with immense value and fits in with the ITTF’s strategy of having a fully professionally run global tour by 2021," ITTF CEO Steve Dainton said in a statement.
"The increased amount of ITTF Challenge Series events shows the increased interest in organizing table tennis events and the proven success of the change of our world ranking at the start of 2018."
Written by Gerard Farek
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