Asia-Pacific tourney moved one day later

The start of the 2008 Asia-Pacific Tournament in the Junior, Senior, and Big League has been moved from June 27 to 28 to accommodate Hong Kong, whose players will only arrive on Saipan this coming Saturday.

According to CNMI District Administrator James Ada, the Hong Kong team will plane in at 8am on June 28. Hong Kong Little Leaguers will see action in the Junior League division of the Asia-Pacific tourney.

“We want to accommodate the team coming from Hong Kong who are coming on the 28th. It’s ugly to start the tournament and not all the teams are here for the opening ceremony,” he said.

Ada also said that aside from the opening date moved to a day later, the tournament will also be missing one team following the decision of India to cancel its participation in the Asia-Pacific tourney.

India, which was also supposed to play in the Big League, decided against sending a team to the 2008 Asia-Pacific Tournament due to the prohibitive cost of airfare.

“They couldn’t afford the rate of the airlines. They were supposed to join the Big League but they pulled out in the last minute because of the rise in airfare. They, however apologized for the inconvenience and wish us the best for the tournament,” said Ada.

He said from around $1,700 per head, the cost for an India-Saipan roundtrip ticket has ballooned to more than $2,000 per passenger.

As it stands now, the Junior League will have four teams, host CNMI, Guam, the Philippines, and Indonesia. The Senior League, meanwhile, will have three—the CNMI, Guam, and the Philippines, while the Big League will feature teams from the CNMI, Guam, the Philippines, and Hong Kong.

The 18-player Indonesian team is expected to be the first team to arrive on Saipan, coming in at 1:30am on June 25.

The Philippine team, consisting of 70 players and coaches, will touch ground at the Francisco C. Ada-Saipan International Airport a few hours later at 5:30pm.

Guam’s 70-man delegation arrives the next day on June 26 with the aforementioned Hong Kong team, made up of 21 players and coaches, coming on June 28.

With the teams in place, Saipan Little League Baseball Association Mike Borja, meanwhile, announced that the opening ceremony for the 2008 Asia-Pacific Tournament is set for 1pm on June 28 at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field.

It will be preceded by an 11am technical meeting for managers and team representatives along with umpires at the Saipan Grand Hotel.

The first game of the 2008 Asia-Pacific Tournament is scheduled at 3pm on June 28, which will the CNMI Big League All-Stars against their counterparts from Guam.