FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 08, 2002

CHANGE IN TEAMS AT WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Minor Alteration Made to Schedule as well

A change in the lineup of teams that will participate in the ISF's X Women's World Championship was announced today. The number of countries taking part will remain at 16, however Cuba will no longer be among them and the Dominican Republic now will. Cuba has informed the ISF that failure to receive funding allocated by their national sports council forced them to withdraw. An unrelated schedule change was announced today too (the Dominican Republic will just take Cuba's place in the "B" pool and assume their schedule of games).

"We are obviously disappointed by Cuba's withdrawal, not to mention at such a late date," said ISF President Don Porter. "At the same time, we are also very pleased that we've been able to fill that spot, so close to the event. We are glad to see the Dominican Republic's enthusiasm for and willingness to seize this opportunity. We know they'll make every effort possible under such conditions to represent themselves well, on and off the field."

The announcement of the Dominican Republic as the replacement came after a review of regional qualifiers held to determine teams for this year's event as well as discussions with other countries in Latin America. The replacement had to come from that region as ISF Code (Article 18.07) states that, "All Fast Pitch World Championships will consist of no more than sixteen (16) teams. The teams will be determined as follows: Host - 1, Africa - 2, Americas - 5, Asia - 3, Europe - 3, Oceania - 2." (NOTE: The complete ISF Code can be viewed from http://www.internationalsoftball.com)

The schedule change announced today was as follows. Originally, games C1 and C2 were to be played on Friday, August 2, 2002. However, ISF Code requires that games C3 and C4 must also be played on the first day of the playoffs (Friday, August 2). Therefore, four games will now be played that day. The times and venues are yet to be determined. Such will be done with every effort to accommodate the fans and participants.

The International Softball Federation, celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2002, is the governing body of softball internationally as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF). The ISF organizes and conducts world championship competition in women's and men's fast pitch, junior women's and men's fast pitch, women's, men's, and coed slow pitch, and women's and men's modified pitch. Softball (women's fast pitch) made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. There are 125 affiliated countries in the ISF and over 40 million participants in the sport worldwide.

For more information, please contact ISF Director of Communications Bruce Wawrzyniak at brucew@internationalsoftball.com or (813) 864-0100, ext. 229.