FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 15, 2010
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 100 DAYS AWAY
Umpires Named for Tournament in Venezuela
PLANT CITY, FLORIDA (USA) -- The countdown to the International Softball Federation’s XII Women’s World Championship has hit 100 days. In just over three months Caracas, Venezuela, will host national teams from 16 different countries, competing for ten days (June 23-July 2).
The number of days until the first pitch ticking down to the century mark today is marked by the announcement of the men and women that have been chosen to umpire in the marquee ISF event. The group includes on-field officials from 15 different countries and will be supervised by ISF Director of Umpires Bob Stanton. They are:
(alphabetically by country name)
| Javier Eduardo PENARROYA, Argentina |
Roberto SANCHEZ, Dominican Republic |
| Darren SIBRAA, Australia |
Andrea MARCON, Italy |
| Scott RINDFLEISH, Australia |
Mitsutake ARIYAMA, Japan |
| Bonnie GOSTOLA, Canada |
Peter VONK, Netherlands |
| Grant HOOD, Canada |
Nicky OGIER, New Zealand |
| Maria MEJIA MORA, Colombia |
Thabo DIKGALE, South Africa |
| Marlene SABOGAL VIGOYA, Colombia |
Christina DRUMM, USA |
| Tomislav OZIMEC, Croatia |
Jeffrey M. SLOAN, USA |
| Raul GARRIDO, Cuba |
Carlos Eduardo FALCON C., Venezuela |
| Pavel KASPERCIK, Czech Republic |
Pedro Rafael JIMENEZ H., Venezuela |
Mr. Stanton said that actually the hope is to add two more umpires to the above crew in the next week.
The 16 teams that will compete are: Argentina, Australia, Botswana, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Great Britain, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, USA, and Venezuela.
The game schedule
is being finalized and will be released shortly.
This year’s event marks the 45th anniversary of the first-ever softball world championship (see commemorative logo below). Five women’s teams competed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1965, and one year later the first men’s world championship was held (eleven countries competed in Mexico City). Eventually world championships were also started in the junior women’s and junior men’s categories (age 19-and-under).
About the ISF
The ISF is the world governing body of the sport as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and SportAccord (formerly the General Association of International Sports Federations). Softball (women's fast pitch) made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. There are 128 affiliated countries in the ISF and millions of participants in the sport worldwide.
MEDIA: For more information, please contact ISF Director of Communications Bruce Wawrzyniak at brucew@ISFsoftball.org or (813) 864-0100, ext. 229.
