{"id":30811,"date":"2017-03-27T13:03:38","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T20:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=30811"},"modified":"2017-03-27T13:03:38","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T20:03:38","slug":"20-countries-to-compete-at-2017-wbsc-mens-world-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=30811","title":{"rendered":"20 Countries to Compete at 2017 WBSC Men’s World Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Click logo to read original article<\/figcaption><\/figure>The 2017 WBSC Men\u2019s World Softball Championship in Whitehorse will feature the second largest number of countries in the event\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Twenty teams from five regions will compete for the 15th title, July 7th to 16th at the Pepsi Softball Centre. As hosts, Canada is looking to defend their world title after capturing gold in 2015, their first since 1992. New Zealand took home the silver in 2015 while Venezuela claimed the bronze.
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\nHere is the full list of teams from each region:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Africa (2)<\/strong>: Botswana, South Africa<\/p>\n

Americas (7)<\/strong>: Argentina, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, United States, Venezuela<\/p>\n

Asia (4)<\/strong>: Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan<\/p>\n

Europe (5)<\/strong>: Czech Republic, Denmark, Great Britain, Israel, Turkey<\/p>\n

Oceania (2)<\/strong>: Australia, New Zealand<\/p>\n

Both India and Turkey will be making their men\u2019s world championship debuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just over 100 days away from first pitch so now the final preparations begin,\u201d said George Arcand, Chair of the 2017 Men\u2019s World Softball Championship Host Committee. \u201cThis is a great opportunity to showcase our territory to the rest of the world, while providing local residents with exciting, fast-paced games and a caliber of fast pitch that they don\u2019t normally get to see.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Arcand added the championship will highlight a two-week long celebration of softball in Whitehorse, with additional community events taking place in the week leading up to the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

In partnership with Softball Yukon, Team Canada will host a clinic for minor softball players on Wednesday, July 5th at the Pepsi Softball Centre. Kids between the ages of 10 and 14 will learn new ways to develop and enhance their skills as they interact with members of the national team, and then enjoy an afternoon barbecue.<\/p>\n

The celebration continues Thursday, July 6th as Corb Lund and the Hurtin\u2019 Albertans rock the Yukon Arts Centre. Tickets for the concert will go on sale on Monday, April 3rd at the Yukon Arts Centre Box Office.<\/p>\n

Corb Lund will also be making a special appearance at the opening ceremony of the Men\u2019s World Softball Championship the following evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to offer our local youth a new and exciting opportunity to get engaged in the sport of softball,\u201d explained Arcand, adding that the addition of a concert will bring a truly Canadian element to the championship in honour of Canada\u2019s 150th birthday. \u201cWe\u2019re thrilled that we managed to secure such a well-known and talented Canadian artist in Corb Lund and the Hurtin\u2019 Albertans.\u201d<\/p>\n

While 2017 will be the first time Yukon hosts a senior men\u2019s event, Softball Yukon has hosted three previous world softball championships \u2013 the Junior Men\u2019s World Softball Championship in 2008 and 2014, as well as the 2012 Women\u2019s World Softball Championship.<\/p>\n

The 2017 WBSC Men\u2019s Softball World Championship is funded in part by the Government of Yukon Department of Community Services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2017 WBSC Men\u2019s World Softball Championship in Whitehorse will feature the second largest number of countries in the event\u2019s history. Twenty teams from five regions will compete for the 15th title, July 7th to 16th at the Pepsi Softball Centre. As hosts, Canada is looking to defend their world title after capturing gold in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,28,9,23,82],"tags":[672,668],"class_list":{"0":"post-30811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"category-featured","9":"category-international","10":"category-tournaments","11":"category-wbsc","12":"tag-wbsc2017","13":"tag-wh2017","14":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30812,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30811\/revisions\/30812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}