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Little League revamps subgrouping
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Posted on Jul 24 2000
CNMI All-Stars at the 2000 Far-East Regional Little League Baseball Tournament will be playing their last Far-East Tournament as the newly adopted Pacific and Asia Region will be in effect in 2001, according to James Ada, Far-East Region deputy director and district administrator for Little League Baseball of the CNMI.
Beginning next year, the local teams will be playing under the Pacific area, which will be comprised of Australia, Guam, Indonesia, Micronesia, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines.
The proposal to split the region into Asia and Pacific was put forward in October 1999, but was only approved in January.
Among the issues taken into consideration in dividing the region were geographical location, strength of local programs, customs , government support and travel costs.
Under the new setup, countries will be granted the opportunities to plan ahead and provide stability for future tournament, according to Ada.
Next year, Hong Kong will host the Little League Baseball tournament for both Asia and Pacific region. The winners in the tournament will advance to the World Series 2001.
The move also increases the number of teams competing in the World Series as eight teams will be in the international bracket compared to four teams in the past, as well as eight teams in the USA bracket compared to four in the past.
According to Ada, the team with the best record in the two brackets will then meet to decide who will be the king in the Diamond in the World Series Championship Game. Year 2001 will also mark the opening of the new stadium adjacent to the Howard J. Lamade Stadium. Games will be played simultaneously in both fields, but the championship game will be played at the Lamade Stadium.
Over 50,000 fans watch the championship games, with visitors coming from all over the world.
The new Little League Baseball sub-grouping:
Asia Area Pacific Area
China Australia
Hong Kong Guam
India Indonesia
Japan CNMI
Korea Micronesia
Sri Lanka New Zealand
Thailand Palau
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
