Time to Qualify Another Olympic Participant
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2007-06-07
The day after tomorrow in Trieste, Italy, the Africa/Europe Olympic qualifier will get underway with eleven teams competing. At stake is one spot next year in Beijing, China, at the Olympic Softball competition. Earlier this year Chinese Taipei won the Asia/Oceania Olympic qualifier, and in August the qualifier for the Americas will take place in Venezuela.
The tournament that begins this weekend and concludes on June 16 will include Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Slovakia, and South Africa. Seven of those teams will be fresh off the XV European Women’s Championship “A,” which took place in Amsterdam and was won by Italy.
In addition to Chinese Taipei, the Africa/Europe Olympic qualifier winner will join Australia, Canada, Japan, USA, and the host (China) in August 2008 for the sport’s fourth Olympic appearance.
Italy earned the right to host the 2007 qualifier by virtue of their finish (among African and European teams) at the International Softball Federation’s XI Women’s World Championship last August/September. Italy also hosted the 2003 Africa/Europe Olympic qualifier, defeating the Czech Republic to advance to their second appearance in the Games.
The games will be played in three locations in Italy, beginning with South Africa vs. Croatia in Staranzano and Greece vs. Nigeria in Ronchi dei Legionari at 9:30 on Saturday morning.
Some television coverage is expected in Italy.