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• Havana
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• 01 / 13 / 2010

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Riccardo Fracari, president of the International Baseball Amateur Federation, has proposed Tuesday that the World Championships should be qualifying tournaments for the World Baseball Classic.

Fracari, who recently replaced American Harvey Schiller as IBAF president, thinks that if the World Baseball Cups provide tickets for the WBC, the World Championships should also be a qualifier and then would be more interesting and all the countries would present their best teams.

Fracari is visiting Cuba since Sunday, and he commented for Cuban weekly magazine JIT that they have discussed with the authorities of the Major League Baseball in the US.

"Nothing is yet decided but I think the issue can be discussed a little more. It is time and it is our duty to tell IBAF member countries that the qualification for the WBC should be handled by the IBAF," he stated.

Fracari said he has the intention to organize a World Championship for players under 23 years of age, in an attempt to replace with the Inter-Continental Cups, and organize a World Baseball Champion Clubs Tournament.

He said that Cuban baseball belongs to the world elite, and that it will remain there because it is a country with a lot of tradition.

He conveyed his hope that baseball will return to the Olympic program, a goal that is a priority.

Source Cubasí and PL