The WBSC Softball Division has announced the draw for the 15th Women’s World Championships, which will be played from 15-24 July in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada with a largest-ever entry of 31 teams.
Eleven teams – including Ireland – will be making their World Championship debuts in what is an open-entry tournament for the first time since 1994.
The opening round of the competition will be played in eight pool groups of three or four teams each, and Great Britain has been drawn in Group 4 along with Canada, Ireland and Uganda.
Two teams from each pool will go through to a second round-robin phase with four groups of four, and eight teams will go forward from that round to a Double Page-Playoff to determine the medals.
The GB Team, under new Head Coach Rachael Watkeys, will be expecting to go forward to the second round, but can they make the top eight for the first time?
The Draw
The initial round-robin groups at the World Championships will be:
Group 1: Japan, Venezuela, France
Group 2: USA, Brazil, Austria, Israel
Group 3: Australia, Mexico, Switzerland, Serbia
Group 4: Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Uganda
Group 5: Chinese Taipei, Puerto Rico, India, Ecuador
Group 6: Netherlands, Czech Republic, Philippines, Pakistan
Group 7: China, Cuba, Guatemala, Greece
Group 8: New Zealand, Italy, Kenya, Peru
WBSC Softball President Dale McMann said: "The worldwide interest and development of our sport globally is reflected in the widest field of nations participating in the pinnacle women's softball event, while new nations continue to enrich and emerge upon our sport's global stage."
Countries making their debut at the World Championships this year are Brazil, Ecuador, India, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, Pakistan, Peru, Serbia, Switzerland and Uganda.
In terms of world representation, the tournament will have two teams from Africa, 10 from the Americas, six from Asia, 11 from Europe and two from Oceania.
The format​
The full format for the tournament will be:
- Eight groups (minimum three in each pool), will play a single round-robin.
- The top two teams from each group will advance to the Championship round of four groups with four teams each. These groups will play a round-robin.
- The top two teams from each Championship round group will then advance to a Double Page Playoff, while the bottom two teams in each section will play a Single Page Playoff.
- Remaining teams from the initial pools will be in a placement round of four groups of three or four teams each.
- The top two teams from each placement group will then advance to a Double Page Playoff, while the bottom teams in each group will play a Single Page Play-off.
History
The United States has won nine World Championships – by far the most – but Japan will come to the tournament as defending champions, having won the World Championships in 2012 and 2014 and the last Olympic softball tournament in 2008.
The host team, Canada, who heads Great Britain’s pool group, is expected to be strong after winning the gold medal at the 2015 Pan-American Games, and Australia, who won the bronze medal in 2006, 2012 and 2014, will almost certainly be in the medal chase.
This will be Great Britain’s fifth straight World Championship and sixth overall. GB finished 24th out of 28 teams in the last Open World Championship in 1994. More recently, when the tournament has been limited to 16 teams and GB either qualified or received a wild card entry, the team finished 10th in 2006 in Beijing, 11th in 2010 in Venezuela, 11th in 2012 in Canada and 16th in 2014 in Haarlem when the tournament was held in Europe for the first time.
Umpires have been selected for the tournament from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Spain, USA and Venezuela.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.surrey2016.com.