NEW MEN’S EVENT LESS THAN A WEEK AWAY
2006-01-19

On Wednesday, January 25, the 1st Men’s Commonwealth Softball Championship will get underway in Melbourne, Australia. The event is being staged both with the hope of getting softball added to the program of the Commonwealth Games as well as to provide another competition opportunity for the men’s fast pitch discipline.

The five-day event will take place in the same city where the XVIII Commonwealth Games themselves will take place in less than two months (March 15-26), and International Softball Federation (ISF) President Don Porter will attend the Softball Championship with the hope of entertaining some representatives of the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee. The next Commonwealth Games will take place four years from now (October 2010) in Delhi, India, where softball would have its first chance of being added to the programme. Softball is currently on the programme of approximately 15 multisport games, some of which will take place this year.

Officials from the Sports Ministry, Australian National Olympic Committee, and International Olympic Committee are expected to attend next week’s Softball Championship, which will consist of Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, and South Africa. New Zealand are the current ISF Men’s World Champions, having won the title two years ago in their own country. Australia won the bronze medal at that event, with Samoa having finished sixth. South Africa also played in that tournament, setting up some exciting rematches at this upcoming event.

One other notable is the induction ceremony that will take place on Day 4 (January 28) for two of the six Australians who were elected to the ISF Hall of Fame at last October’s XXII ISF Congress in Taiwan (Norma Allsopp and Denise Hutchinson).

The game schedule for the 1st Men’s Commonwealth Softball Championship:

Wednesday, January 25
5pm - New Zealand vs. South Africa
7pm – Opening Ceremony
8pm – Australia vs. Samoa     

Thursday, January 26
12pm – South Africa vs. Samoa
2:30pm – South Africa vs. Australia
5pm – Australia vs. New Zealand
7:30pm – Samoa vs. New Zealand

Friday, January 27
12pm – South Africa vs. New Zealand
2:30pm – Samoa vs. Australia
5pm – Samoa vs. South Africa
7:30pm – New Zealand vs. Australia      

Saturday, January 28
11am – New Zealand vs. Samoa
1:30pm – Australia vs. South Africa
5:30pm – Final 1 (1 vs. 2)
8pm – Final 2 (3 vs. 4)

Sunday, January 29
12pm – Final 3 (Loser of F1 vs. Winner of F2)
3:30pm – Grand Final (Winner of F1 vs. Winner of F3)