JAPAN CUP THIS WEEKEND
2006-11-16

Beginning tomorrow and running through Sunday, the 4th Japan Cup will take place in Yokohoma, Japan. This year’s tournament will consist of four of the participants from the International Softball Federation’s (ISF) XI Women’s World Championship, which took place from August 27-September 5 in Beijing, China.

Japan, who won the silver medals at the 2006 world championship, comes in as the defending Japan Cup champion, having last year defeated USA, who won this year’s ISF event in Beijing. China will also participate in the Japan Cup after having finished fourth at the world championship. The quartet of teams is rounded out by the Netherlands, who was one of four teams tied for ninth place in the 16-team world championship with a 3-4 won-lost record. This is the first time that the Dutch are competing in the Japan Cup, which is an ISF-sanctioned event.

An Opening Ceremony was scheduled for today, as well as an umpire meeting and the technical meeting.

The schedule of games, which will take place in Yokohama Stadium, is as follows:

November 17 (Fri.)
13:00 USA vs. China
15:30 Japan vs. Netherlands
18:00 Japan vs. China

November 18 (Sat.)
10:00 USA vs. Netherlands
12:30 Japan vs. USA
15:00 China vs. Netherlands

November 19 (Sun.)
09:30 Third place game
12:00 First place game