FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2007

BACK SOFTBALL GROWING STRONGER AT SPORTEL 2007

MONACO -- Back Softball, the International Softball Federation’s (ISF) campaign to reinstate softball as an Olympic sport for the 2016 Games, is into its third day of exhibition at the Sportel convention here and making great progress.

Over 17 meetings with global broadcasters and members of the Olympic family have taken place at the Back Softball stand, which is located in the General Association of International Sports Federations section. The Back Softball stand, building on the success of the exhibition, has attracted a very high number of delegates who have shown their support for the campaign.

Don Porter, President of the ISF, said, “Television is vitally important to the success of our sport. That is why we are so pleased by the response at Sportel. We are aiming for a significant increase in international coverage over the coming months, which in turn will lead to greater interest in our sport, leading to more participants, notably females and youth. This will also give us the opportunity to keep increasing the number of countries interested in softball.”

The International Softball Federation leaves Sportel (www.sportelmonaco.com) on the 18th of October and goes straight to Manila, where the attending member national softball federations will, among other business, be informed about the Back Softball campaign and the role they can play in helping the sport throughout this two-year campaign and beyond.

At the 121st International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Copenhagen in October 2009, IOC Members will vote in a secret ballot on the sports that will be reinstated onto the Olympic Programme for the 2016 Olympic Games.

 

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