Japan Wins Women’s Baseball World Cup – Baseball World Dot Com
“JAPAN – Japan did not let down its home crowd on Friday night, throttling Canada, 11-3, in the gold medalfinal of the 2008 IBAF Women’s World Cup…”
“…The third installment of the Women’s World Cup kicked off one day after the close of the baseball competition at the Olympic Games in Beijing. The tournament was held across six days, featuring five days of preliminary play and today’s final round. The gold medal was a first for the Japanese women’s team, to go along with the silvers it won in 2004 and 2006…”
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Girls join baseball clubs despite Koshien ban
The Yomiuri Shimbun
OSAKA–Despite a Japan High School Baseball Federation regulation that prohibits females playing in the National High School Baseball Championship, 33 female high school students in 20 prefectures are members of their high school baseball club, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey.
Some of the female students participate in practice games, the survey found, a practice also prohibited under JHSBF’s regulations, which stipulate all players in the national championship and practice games must be male high school students.
The championship is held at Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture.
JHSBF Chairman Haruo Wakimura said female players’ eligibility should be reexamined, and that JHSBF members should be made aware of the issue.
In the survey, conducted in July, The Yomiuri Shimbun asked chairmen or directors of high school baseball federations in 47 prefectures how many female players they had registered, and whether female players participated in the national championship or practice games.
The survey revealed some high schools allow female students to train with male students, and sometimes have them participate in practice games as pinch hitters if the opposing manager consents.
Officials of 30 federations said they would allow female students to participate in practice games.
However, responses pointing out the risks of allowing female players outnumbered those supporting the idea.
Osaka Prefecture had the most female players, with eight, followed by Yamaguchi and Miyagi prefectures with three female players each.
The federation does not keep track of the number of female students who are members of high school baseball clubs, as it says it is concerned with the students who participate in the championship, rather than the students who do not.
An official of the Aomori High School Baseball Federation who participated in the survey said the federation welcomes female players, adding that girls have no option but to play with boys, as there are no female baseball clubs at high schools in the prefecture.
A Miyagi High School Baseball Federation official also supported the idea of allowing eligibility for female players, adding that nationwide discussion on the issue would be necessary.
Meanwhile, a Shimane High School Baseball Federation official expressed concern about the safety of female players, citing the difference in physical strength between the sexes.
The issue of female high school students participating in national sports competitions came under the spotlight this spring during the National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament, when Kanako Takamatsu, a third-year female student of Karyo High School in Kudamatsu, Yamaguchi Prefecture, was banned from participating in a pretournament practice match at Koshien Stadium.
Education, Science and Technology Minister Kisaburo Tokai responded to the incident by urging the JHSBF to consider allowing female participation in official games.
Participation by female players in hard rubber-ball baseball games for middle school students is allowed by the Nippon Junior High School Physical Culture Association, while the Boys League last year approved female players’ participation in baseball championships for primary and middle school students.
A female pitcher once took the mound in the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League, and there are no sex-based restrictions on participation in the amateur baseball championships.
The High School Girls Baseball Tournament is a national championship held twice a year in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, but only five schools send teams, all of them privately run and located in Tokyo or Kyushu.
The third Women’s World Cup of Baseball will be held from Aug. 24 in Matsuyama, featuring eight international teams.
(Aug. 1, 2008) Copyright © The Yomiuri Shimbun.
