Publication Date：05/17/2011
Source： Taiwan Today
By Meg Chang
The Lausanne-based International Baseball Federation began its global campaign in Taipei May 16 to reinstall baseball as an official event in the 2020 Olympic Games.
In a news conference organized by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, IBAF President Riccardo Fraccari said he is mobilizing baseball teams and fans around the world to have the sport reinstated as an Olympic event.
“We must convince the International Olympic Committee that baseball is not only a sport fit for people of all countries and ages, it is also a commodity which can generate revenues,” Fraccari said.
He added that the IBAF chose to start its global bid in Taipei because baseball is the national sport of Taiwan.
The IBAF will make its case at the IOC’s review meeting July 4 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the committee will determine a preliminary list of events to be included in the 2020 summer program.
Baseball was first introduced to the Olympics in 1904 as a demonstration sport in St. Louis. It made several appearances in the following decades before becoming an official medal sport in the 1992 Barcelona games, where the Taiwan team grabbed the silver medal.
But the IOC voted in 2005 and 2009 not to include baseball on the 2012 and 2016 summer programs as the games failed to attract the best players in the world, among other concerns.
Fraccari said the IBAF is teaming up with the International Softball Federation with efforts to revive men’s baseball and women’s softball as one sport, two events in 2020. (HZW)
