THUNDER BAY – SPORTS – The Thunder Bay International Baseball Association (TBIBA) have announce that a delegation representing the city will receive the World Baseball Softball Confederation flag at the conclusion of the 2015 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in Osaka, Japan. The delegation is comprised of Warren Philp, Executive Director of the TBIBA and Canadian Honorary Consul Ushio Tsuda from Osaka.
“The flag presentation will mark a significant milestone in the planning for 2017 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in Thunder Bay,” stated Larry Hebert, President of the TBIBA. “Seven years ago, TBIBA representatives Warren Philp and Reg Galbraith received the flag at the end of the 2008 World Junior Baseball Championships from the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and Edmonton International Baseball Federation representatives leading up to the IBAF World Junior Baseball Championship in 2010.“
The visit by TBIBA’s Warren Philp is part of the organization`s efforts to improve on the template put in place for the very successful IBAF World Junior Baseball Championship in 2010 in Thunder Bay. Since 2010, the event has been held in 2012 in Seoul, Korea and in 2013 in Chinese Taipei.
“The World Baseball Softball Confederation, Baseball Federation of Japan and the Japanese High School Baseball Federation have been tremendous hosts for the TBIBA here in Osaka,“ noted Warren Philp, Executive Director of the TBIBA. “Our time here has been a tremendous experience, learning from experts in national and international tournament hosting. We would like to thank all parties for their part in making the experience so valuable.
The TBIBA would like to also like to acknowledge Toronto-based Koji Yamane, who has been living in the GTA for 13 years but is originally for Kobe where he played baseball at Shinko Gakuen High School. Yamane has acted as Philp`s translator during his stay in Osaka and has been an invaluable resource in many regards.
Sunday`s medal action will pit Korea against Australia in the Bronze medal game while the Gold Medal game will feature a re-match of the 2013 IBAF World Junior Championship in Chinese-Taipei between the United States and Japan. Canada will finish sixth. The bronze medal match will take place at 5 a.m. EDT/6 p.m. local time, while the gold medal game will be played at 5 a.m. EDT/6 p.m. local time on Sunday, 6 September at Hanshin Koshien Stadium. Free live-streaming of the 2015 U-18 Baseball World Cup will be made available via the WBSC’s two official Ustream channels: WBSC Channel 1 and WBSC Channel 2. Visit www.ustream.tv/wbsc