The group formation of the ‘2023 Women’s Baseball Asian Cup (BFA)’, which opens in Hong Kong on the 21st, was announced.
The Korean women’s baseball team, led by coach Yang Sang-moon, was in Group B along with Asia’s strongest Japan and the Philippines. It is referred to as the ‘group of death’. Japan won the previous tournament, the 2019 Asian Cup, and the Philippines finished third that year. South Korea finished fifth in the tournament.
The system of the BFA Cup is a little different from general baseball international competitions. The lower-ranking countries will play the group stage first, and then the first place in each group will play the group stage again with the higher-ranking countries that have already advanced to the finals to determine the advancement to the Super Round, which can go up to second place in each group.
The Korean women’s baseball team is currently ranked 10th in the world, and is a top ranker in Asia. Therefore, the national team will start from the main round without going through the preliminary round that will be held from the 21st.
However, the national team belonged to the ‘group of death’ in the final grouping. A difficult journey is expected. From around the middle of the tournament, the national team will play against Japan, the Philippines, and the top-ranked countries in Group B (India, Malaysia, Thailand) to advance to the Super Round. You have to place in the top 2 in your group out of 4 countries to compete for a medal.
Realistically, Asia’s strongest team, Japan, is expected to take first place in the group, while the Korean national team is expected to compete with the Philippines for second place in the group. 메이저놀이터
The national team’s previous best performance in the Asian Cup was a bronze medal (3rd place) at the 2017 Asian Cup. At the time, the scale of the competition was small, with only six countries participating. However, as women’s baseball became active, the number of participating countries doubled in six years. A total of 12 countries are participating this year. If you finish in the top 4 in this competition, you can get a ticket to the World Baseball World Cup. To do so, the national team must finish in the top two of the group stage.
The detailed schedule of the tournament, including the national team game, has not yet been announced.