FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 10, 2003

ISF WON'T PULL UPCOMING EVENTS OUT OF CHINA
Softball Likely One of Only Few Sports
Not Changing Plans Due to SARS Virus

The VII Jr. Women's World Championship and XXI International Softball Federation (ISF) Congress will be held in Nanjing, China as originally scheduled. The announcement was made today by Don Porter, President of the sport's world governing body. He also noted a slight scheduling change, which sees the start dates of the event pushed back a few weeks.

"After discussions with the ISF Administrative Planning Commission, along with our Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Terrell - who has been in contact with both the World Health Organization (WHO) and Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC), it has been decided that our two events scheduled for China will be kept there," Mr. Porter said. "We have a lot of supporting documents outlining a downtrend in the number of SARS cases in China, including no new cases having been reported in the last 30 days in Jiangsu (the province where Nanjing is)."

He continued, noting that, "After listening to all the data sent to us and Dr. Terrell's discussions with different medical personnel, the decision has been made not to relocate or cancel the events because of the SARS virus. As of today, the Congress is scheduled for October 17-21 and the Jr. Women's World Championship for October 23-November 2."

Noting that, "Our main concern is the welfare of our athletes and other officials that may be attending the event," Mr. Porter added that he plans to personally go to China in August to meet with Chinese and medical officials.

The Jr. Women's World Championship, a 19-and-under fast pitch competition, will be held at the stadium on the just completed Pukou Campus of Nanjing University of Technology. "We feel it's important for the Chinese to organize and host these events," Mr. Porter said. "They've worked very hard and are well prepared, with a new facility that will be of world championship caliber."

As of today, the following 14 teams are scheduled to participate: Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. Mr. Porter noted, however, that, "If the national federations that have entered teams feel the need to withdraw, they alone will make that decision. We, in the meantime, have made our decision about the event logistics in as well-informed a manner as we can. We, however, can't require the teams to participate."

He added that, "Only if we were to later receive documentation that wasn't acceptable to us and our medical officials would we cancel the events."

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