Baseball is back on the programme of the Pacific Mini Games! The tournament is scheduled to be held from June 17 to 25 at the Francisco Tan Ko M. Palacios Baseball Field (Oleai Sports Complex) in Saipan, Northern Marianas Islands. The field (pictured above/Saipan Tribune) was recently renovated after Typhoon Yutu damaged it in 2018.
The Pacific Mini Games is a scaled-down version of the main Pacific Games – the next of which is scheduled to go ahead in the Solomon Islands in 2023. Both events happen on a four-year cycle.
The Pacific Mini Games was inaugurated in 1981 to enable smaller Pacific nations and territories to host events and compete against each other. Baseball was last on the programme at a Pacific Mini Games in 2005 in Palau. Guam won gold undefeated.
Check out the official website here.
The Pacific Games, formerly known as the South Pacific Games, opened in 1963. It is a continental multi-sport event with participation exclusively from archipelagic countries around the Pacific Ocean.
Baseball was last featured on thefull Pacific Games programme in 2011 in New Caledonia. The Northern Mariana Islands defeated Guam in the final to claim gold – a feat they will surely be looking to repeat at home in 2022.
On that occasion, Palau finished third.
The Pacific Games Council approves 37 sports. The Pacific Mini Games does not have a compulsory sports list. However, half of the sports selected for the programme must come from the approved 37.
The Pacific Mini Games 2022 consists of nine sports: athletics, badminton, baseball, beach volleyball, golf, tennis, triathlon, Va’a (outrigger canoeing), and weightlifting.
Article adapted from the WBSC Oceania website.